Charmed: Season 10
by KingKenfordIV
Summary: The Charmed Ones have gone 10 years without fighting demons but when a new powerful threat drags them back in, the sisters realize that they have finally met their match & the Power of Three might not be enough to save them and their loved ones this time. Meanwhile, their children struggle to control their powers unaware of the legend of their past & the destiny of their future.
1. 10x01: When the Levee Breaks

**10x01: When the Levee Breaks**

The sun hovers on the horizon overlooking the San Francisco peninsula as the bright light streaks across the morning sky. Activity within the city is extremely low. The Port of San Francisco is seen in the distance with the time reading 6:25am. A flash and a change of scene later, the Halliwell Manor is seen basking in the glow of the rising sun. Within the Manor, the sun fills in the conservatory and the foyer of the Manor; decorating the empty house with the streak of sunlight pouring in from every transparent oriel. The eerie silence that fills the Manor is suddenly broken with a loud screech of tires heard outside in the street. Car doors are heard being slammed and muffled voices can be heard in the distance, becoming more audible as the shadows of the people outside of the Manor draw closer to the stained glass door. The front door swings open and in walks a doctor, followed by Piper, Phoebe and then Prue.

"Okay, I think we made it. I'm sure we made it. Do you think we made it?" Piper says with a slight panic in her voice.

"I don't know." Prue answers with uncertainty as she closes the door behind her.

"I think he would've attacked by now if we hadn't." Phoebe adds as she marches in the Manor alongside Piper and Dr. Griffiths.

"Who? Who would've attacked?" Dr. Griffiths asks in confusion, "Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

"Because we're busy trying to save your life." Phoebe answers as the whole crew comes to a stop in the middle of the foyer.

"From who?" Dr. Griffiths asks.

"Uh, unfortunately we're not quite sure." Prue answers with uncertainty.

"That's because Phoebe did not give us time to figure it out." Piper says with a hint of irritability in her voice.

"Well, I didn't have a lot of time." Phoebe defends herself, "I mean, I can't control how far in the future my premonitions take place. I saw the attack, we kicked butt, what more do you want?"

"I would like to know more about who we are up against." Piper counters.

"Okay, Phoebe, maybe you should check the Book of Shadows, see if you can find anything else on this demonic hit man, okay?" Prue suggests.

"Excuse me, demonic?" Dr. Griffiths interrupts as his eyes widen in surprise.

"And how to vanquish him, that would be a good thing to know, and do not get side tracked with the Cole potion thingy because the only ones we are concerned about saving right now is ourselves." Piper rambles as her agitation shines through her dialogue.

Phoebe signals her understanding, turns around and heads up the stairs.

"Oh, okay, what Cole potion?" Prue asks in confusion.

"Ah, he told her that he only killed because some demon cast a spell on him. How naive is that?" Piper explains in a blasé tone.

"I thought she was over him?"

"Apparently not." Piper answers.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dr. Griffiths interjects, "First you tell me my life's in danger, then you abduct me from my work, now you're talking about demons and witches. Who the hell are you people?!"

"Look, I know that this all sounds incredible, but it doesn't make it any less true. Alright, you're a healer, you do good, now either you have saved too many lives or you're about to save a life that they don't want you to save." Prue explains in one breath.

"They?"

"Yeah, demons. Uh, more specifically, Shax. He was The Source's assassin…"

"Hold it, I get it. This is a practical joke, right? Do you have a hidden camera here? My second wife put you up to this?" Dr. Griffiths laughs in disbelief. His eyes search his surroundings, looking for a reasonable explanation as Prue shakes her head in response, "Ah, it's just like her."

"O-o-okay, Dr. Griffiths, listen to me, this is anything but..." Prue pauses as a feeling of dread washes all over her.

Piper turns her focus to Prue. "What?"

"I don't know. I just felt a chill." Prue answers. She looks up and calls, "Phoebe?" There is no answer.

A look of wonder is drawn on Piper's face as Prue continues to call for her sister.

"Phoebe, are you there?" Prue shouts once more as silence fills the air. A daunting look falls on her face as she turns her gaze towards the front door. A tornado of wind twists through the front door and rushes towards the sisters and the doctor.

"Phoebe, where are you?" Prue shouts frantically as the tornado knocks her and Piper to the floor. Dr. Griffiths backs up in confusion. A clap of thunder is heard, the tornado calms down and the demon Shax appears. Grey, muscular and menacing in appearance, the demon cocks his head to the side as he analyses his target.

Dr. Griffiths' eyes widen as he is frozen in fear. With his throat dry with dread and disbelief, he manages to utter his final words, "Dear God..."

Prue lifts her head up and sees Shax motion his arm as he gets ready to conjure a tornado blast.

"No!" she screams as Prue gets up off the floor and pushes Dr. Griffiths out of the way. Shax's tornado ball materializes and makes contact with Prue as she literally crashes straight through the wall behind her. The debris of wood and plaster rain all around her as she falls to the ground, unconscious and bleeding.

"Prue!" Piper screams as she gets up, runs towards her foe and faces Shax head on. In an instant, Shax conjures another tornado blast and hurls it towards at Piper. As the tornado heads towards Piper, she closes her eyes as the blast hits her.

Piper gasps and sits up in her bed, out of breath and drenched in sweat. She looks to her left and sees her husband, Leo sound asleep. She looks to her right and sees the alarm clock reads 3:39am. She looks around and sees the darkness of the night filled in her room, the sounds of cars passing by in the street below. The curtains blow gently in the wind with the window slightly cracked. Piper pulls the covers off her body, stands up, walks towards the window and shuts the window. She shivers as she folds her arms and rubs them for warmth. She walks over to her bed and lies back down. She stares at the ceiling as a single tear falls from her eye and streaks across the side of her face towards her ear. She lifts the covers and covers herself with it and closes her eyes, hoping to have a dreamless night.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Dorian Gregory

Created by: Constance M. Burge

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The island of Alcatraz can be seen in the distance as the sun rises and settles in the middle of the sky. The B.A.R.T. can be seen speeding throughout the city, many passengers get off and board the B.A.R.T. and it speeds off. The city of San Francisco can be seen from the point of view of the Ghirardelli and finally the Halliwell Manor is seen, bathed in the morning light. A black Jeep Cherokee and a maroon colored GMC Sierra are parked in the driveway. In the kitchen, Piper sits on a stool as she drinks the last swig of her coffee. She stands up and heads to the table, pours a cupful of coffee, and adds her cream and sugar. She sits back down and begins to stir the cup. She looks down at her coffee mug as the swirl spins and settles. She closes her eyes and she hears an echo of Prue's voice.

"No!"

She opens them sharply and then takes a deep breath. She hears the footfall of another person approaching and she takes another sip of her coffee. Leo walks into the kitchen wearing a buttoned up cream shirt, dark blue trousers and a dark blue blazer to match. His hair is greased and combed to the side with a line parted on the top right side of his head.

"Good morning." he greets as he walks to the coffee pot, grabs a mug and pours himself a cup. The cup is barely filled to the middle when the coffee pot runs empty. He turns around and looks at his wife.

"Oh man. You didn't make enough coffee, Piper."

Piper doesn't even acknowledge Leo as she stares off into the distance.

"Piper?" Leo calls out to her as he walks closer to her, "Piper."

"Hmmm?" Piper answers still looking straight ahead.

"What's the matter?" Leo asks.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"Piper…"

"Don't worry, Leo. I'm fine." Piper whispers.

"So I'm assuming you made enough coffee but you drank it all." Leo deduces, "Insomnia knocking on your door again?"

Piper takes a deep breath and sighs.

"Want to talk about it?" Leo asks.

Piper finally turns to look at Leo. "The nightmares have begun again."

"Nightmares? Of Prue?" Leo asks.

Piper nods her head in response.

"Is it the same as last time?" Leo asks.

"Yeah." Piper says, "I keep seeing the final moments I shared with Prue and I still don't know why it's happening now. I haven't had this dream in two years and now all of a sudden I am having that nightmare every day this week. I just don't understand it."

"Maybe you need to talk to your sisters about it; they may help shed some light on the situation."

Piper shakes her head in disagreement, "No. Today is supposed to be a good day for Phoebe and I'm not going to ruin it by bringing up a catastrophic moment in our lives, especially after the last time."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. Besides, I have to go make sure we have everything good to go for tonight." Piper says.

"Where? At the club or at the restaurant?" Leo asks.

"Restaurant." Piper says, "You just go handle P3 and I will see you later."

Leo smiles.

"Are the kids awake?" Piper asks.

Leo shrugs as he walks to Piper, kisses her and walks out. Piper sighs and takes a sip of her coffee as her eyes rests on Leo's coffee mug.

"What about your coffee?" Piper screams.

"Starbucks!" Leo answers as the front door is heard opening and slammed shut.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A young girl opens her crystal blue eyes slowly and yawns. Her brown hair with hints of blonde is split in half with a pigtail on each side. She sits up and looks around her room. The walls of her room are painted pink and the walls of the room are plastered with posters of boy bands and female singing groups. The poster directly across from her shows a group of young women staring menacingly at her with the words, " _Pretty Little Liars_ " scribbled in cursive at the bottom. She hops out of her bed and opens the thick wooden door. She drags herself across the hall while rubbing her eyes, trying to keep herself awake. She reaches a door and knocks on it lightly and waits for an answer. She knocks once more and then twists the knob of the door and enters.

She walks into the room and looks around for a second. The walls are decorated with many posters plastered over a dark grey and white wall. Pictures of the Avengers are plastered on one side of the room with a few posters of the X-Men & Star Wars mixed together for variety on one side; the other side covered with athletes and a large red poster with an SF written in bold white letters. The floor is littered with piles of clothes. Against the wall to her left leans a bunk bed with two people covered with their blankets, fast asleep. The young girl yawns and walks up to the bunk bed and steps on a ladder, trying to wake up the boy on the top bunk.

"Wyatt." She calls out as she tries to shake him awake, "Wyatt, wake up."

Wyatt groans and takes his hand out of his blanket and waves at the girl dismissively. The girl sighs and gets down from the bunk bed ladder. She sits on the bottom bunk and gently lifts the blanket.

"Chris?"

"Hmmm?" Chris answers groggily with his eyes closed.

"Can you make me some breakfast?" she asks meekly.

"Ask Wyatt…" he responds with his voice muffled underneath the blanket.

"He won't wake up." the girl says.

"Ughhh." Chris groans as he lifts up the blanket, sighs and sits up. Chris stares at his sister with his deep blue sea colored eyes, which almost mirrored hers. His dark brown hair was tossed and messy, partially shielding his forehead and his eyes from view.

"Can you guys keep it down? I'm still trying to sleep." Wyatt moans from the top.

He brushes his hair from his eyes and yawns as he affectionately touches his sister's cheek.

"Come on, I'll make you something to eat." Chris says as he jumps out of bed. He fixes his pajama bottoms and slides his sock covered feet into flip flops and grab his sister's hand. He looks back at the top bunk and watches as Wyatt tosses and turns on his bed. His sister pulls him and leads him out of the bedroom and Chris closes the door behind him.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Moments later, Chris and his sister enter the kitchen of the Manor. Chris drags his feet while his sister runs into the kitchen and sits down on a stool. Chris walks and opens the refrigerator. He looks inside and takes out some eggs, bacon and milk.

"How do eggs and pancakes with a side of bacon sound?" Chris asks.

"Awesome." She replies.

Chris smiles as he closes the refrigerator. He places the items on the counter and then pauses and stares at his sister.

"Did you brush your teeth?"

"Yeah?" she answers.

"Mellie, did you brush your teeth?" Chris asks her one more time.

"No." she answers with her head hanging low.

"You know what to do, Mel. I am not going to ask you again. Go brush your teeth and wash up. By the time you're done, your food will be ready for you, ok?" Chris says.

Mellie nods and hops off the stool.

"Don't forget I want extra bacon!" Mellie yells as she runs out of the kitchen.

"I won't!" Chris yells after her. He turns around to grab the pots and pans when Piper walks into the kitchen.

"Wow, I'm surprised you're up at this time." Piper says staring at her watch.

"Mel woke me up; she wanted me to make her breakfast." Chris answers as he greases up the frying pan with butter. He turns around and places a few slices of bread in the toaster.

"She could've come to me and asked me to make her breakfast." Piper says, "I would've made breakfast if I knew you weren't going to be sleeping in."

"You're always gone before we wake up, mom. I'm surprised you're even still here."

"Well that will all change next week when you all start school next week." Piper says as she helps Chris prepare breakfast.

"You still have to take us school shopping." Chris says, "And I don't want any of Wyatt's old clothes. I'm too old for hand-me-downs."

"You're only thirteen, Chris. You'll be fine." Piper says with a smile.

"Where's dad?" Chris asks.

"P3. Where are your brother and sister?" Piper asks.

"Wyatt's still sleeping and Mel went to go wash up." Chris says as he cracks two eggs and begins to fry them. Piper watches him with a smile on her face. Chris looks up at her.

"Why are you smiling?" Chris asks her with a crooked smile.

"You just amaze me, you know that?" Piper says as she walks closer to him and puts her hand around him, "The way you take care of your brother and sister. You remind me of me when I was your age."

"Now you're over exaggerating, mom." Chris says as he uses the spatula to flip the eggs. Piper leans closer and kisses Chris on his forehead. The toaster shoots out the bread.

"I have to go to Halliwell's to prepare for tonight." Piper says

"For Aunt Phoebe's thing?"

"Yep." Piper says as she grabs a toast. "Remember, I want you, Wyatt and Mellie home by 6pm. Not 5:59. No exceptions. We can't be late. Got it?"

"I got it, mom. I'll make sure that we are ready to go by 5:30." Chris says.

"Ok. I'll see you soon. And don't forget to make some breakfast for your brother, and ask him to wash the dishes when you're done."

"Yes, mom." Chris says absentmindedly as he continues to prepare breakfast.

"With no magic…" Piper emphasizes.

"No magic. Got it." Chris says.

Piper walks out of the kitchen and Mellie runs past her.

"Bye mom!" Mellie screams.

Piper laughs as she walks towards the foyer and then walks out of the Manor. Wyatt walks into the kitchen shortly after. With his dirty blonde hair disheveled, he drags himself towards the kitchen island and sits down next to Mellie.

"What are you guys doing tomorrow?" Wyatt asks.

"Nothing really. Just probably go to the mall with Mel and meet up with Joel and Matt. She wants me to take her to the arcade. Why do you ask?" Chris asks.

"Tomorrow is my baseball tryouts. I was wondering if you guys can come with me, make me less nervous, you know?" Wyatt answers.

"I thought your football tryouts were tomorrow." Mellie says.

"No, that's on the first day of school next week." Wyatt answers.

"You're trying to do it all, aren't you?" Chris mutters as he grabs a plate and dresses it up with eggs and bacon. He sets it down in front of Mellie.

"Chris…" Wyatt says as he looks deep into his brother's eyes, "Please?"

"Fine." Chris sighs, "We'll stop by before we go to the mall."

Wyatt's eyes light up with joy and his smile grow wide. He looks at his sister who is inhaling her eggs without chewing.

"You're making me breakfast too, right?" Wyatt asks. Mel reaches over the table and grabs a slice of bacon,

"Yeah, if you'd clean up the dishes afterwards…" Chris answers.

Wyatt smiles.

"With no magic…" Chris adds with a smile as Wyatt's smile disappears. Mellie giggles as she takes a bite of her bacon.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A change of scene from the Manor brings us to the Port of San Francisco. The large clock strikes 10:00 am and directly across the port is a blue and white house with a green Volkswagen parked outside. On the inside of the house, there is disaster and commotion everywhere. There are toys littered everywhere and sounds of children laughing and playing. Paige walks out of the bedroom carrying a laundry basket. Wearing a sweater and her baggy sweatpants, her hair is shaved off with remnants of her dark locks exhibited on her head in a 5' o'clock shadow. She walks towards the laundry room as she trips over an object on the ground. She groans out of frustration as she squats and picks it up. It is an action figure of the Incredible Hulk, green all over.

"Junior!" she screams.

A young boy no older than 9, long dark brown hair which falls just above his shoulders with dark brown eyes walks up to Paige.

"Yes mom?"

"What did I tell you about leaving your toys around? If I see them on the floor, what does that mean?" Paige asks. The other children continue to scream and make noise in the background.

"If they're on the floor, it means that I don't want it anymore." Henry Jr. says in a low tone.

"Do you want me to throw these toys away?" Paige asks.

"No, mom."

"Then you know what to do." Paige says as she runs her fingers through his curly hair and kisses him on his forehead. Henry Jr. picks up the toy and runs away.

"And tell your sisters to keep it down!" Paige yells.

Paige's cell phone begins to ring and Paige struggles to answer her phone with the laundry basket in her hand. She puts the laundry basket on the floor and answers the phone.

"Henry, hi." She answers as she starts to put the laundry in the washing machine.

"Hey, honey. How are you doing?" Henry asks as he walks around his office looking at a folder.

"Oh, just barely hanging on by a thread. Your children are driving me crazy."

"It can't be _that_ bad." Henry laughs.

"Gabby and Penny keep arguing over petty little things and Henry is in his room on his iPad 24/7 while his toys are littered over the whole house. I can't have a moment of peace here." Paige rants.

"Well, they go back to school in a week so just hang on until then." Henry advises.

"That's easy for you to say. You don't have to spend all day with them."

"So how about I plan a spa day for you next week when they go back, just a whole day to relax and be pampered? How does that sound?" Henry asks.

"Don't dangle false promises in front of me and take it away. I will orb you into a volcano if you do." Paige says as she continues to stuff the laundry into the washing machines.

"I promise. I'll put something together for you." Henry says, "you deserve it."

"I'll hold you to it." Paige says, "What time are you coming home tonight?"

"I don't know. Probably at 8-9. I'm not sure. Why do you ask?"

"Tonight is Phoebe's dinner thing, remember?"

"Tonight? Are you sure?" Henry says as he puts his folder down and looks at the calendar.

"Yes. Piper told us two weeks ago. You better not back out of this one. You know it means a lot to me." Paige says.

"I will try but I can't promise anything."

"Henry James Mitchell. You better not leave me hanging!" Paige says furiously.

"Ok, ok! I'll see what I can do. Count me in." Henry says.

"Good. It's been a while since we have all been in the same city together, yet alone the same room so this reunion will be good for us, especially the kids."

"You're over exaggerating." Henry laughs.

"It has been a long time since we have seen Phoebe and Coop, I don't know if the kids remember their cousins." Paige says.

"They have met before, haven't they?" Henry questions.

"The kids have met Piper's kids but they don't remember Phoebe's. I'm pretty sure." Paige says as she adds the last load of laundry in the washing machine, uncovers the detergent and pours a little bit into the washing machine. She slams the washing machine door shut and then turns it on. She turns around and leans against the washing machine and folds her right arm underneath her left arm while she holds her phone.

"I guess it will be nice for them to meet their cousins." Henry says.

"The banquet dinner thing is at 8 so that means that I want you home by…"

"7." Henry cuts her off.

"No. 6. It's a wild card when it comes to you getting ready for things so be home by 6 ." Paige says.

"Ok. I got to go, hun. I'll see you in a few." Henry says.

"6:00, Henry!"

"I got it! Love you!" Henry says as he sits down.

"I love you too." Paige says as she hangs up the phone. She smiles and bites her lip as her mind wanders for a little bit. Her daydream is shattered when she hears a crash in the background.

"It wasn't me!" the twins can be heard screaming in defense in the distance.

Paige takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, praying for a moment of peace in her mind. She opens them and walks out of the laundry room.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A beaux-arts style building can be seen with numerous flags perched on the balcony. The exterior boasts numerous floors and the interior is just as glamourous with gilded decorations throughout. In one of the rooms, a woman sits on her bed facing a mirror. She is wearing a bathrobe with dark short hair styled in a bob cut. A man walks into the room and walks towards her slowly.

"Phoebe?" he calls.

Phoebe turns her head and stares at her husband. Coop smiles at her.

"Are you okay?"

Phoebe takes a deep breath and nods.

"Are you sure? You're saying yes but I know your heart is saying no." Coop says.

"I'm fine." She says softly as she stands up. She clears her throat.

"Are you nervous about you receiving honors in your name?" Coop asks.

"No. That doesn't worry me. It's my sisters." Phoebe says.

"What about them?" Coop asks.

"It's been so long since I have seen both of them and the way we left things before I left…" she says as she pauses. Coop walks closer to her and wraps his arms around her.

"Shhh…" Coop comforts her, "that was a long time ago. Bygones. I doubt that they're carrying a grudge over that last argument."

"You don't know Piper." Phoebe says.

"Well she's throwing you a banquet in her restaurant in your honor. I don't think she will do that if she was still mad at you."

Phoebe takes a deep breath and then looks up at her husband.

"You think so?"

"Yes. Now, we have to get you ready to go to the university for your ceremony. This is something you have wanted for the longest time and they are finally honoring you with a PhD. You should be happy." Coop says.

"You're right. So I guess I'll get ready for that. And can you get the girls ready and meet me at the university?" Phoebe says as she walks away from Coop. She walks into the closet and begins to get dressed.

"We're not going together?"

"No, I want to stop at the Bay Mirror. I feel like I need to go see them. I miss them. I miss Elise."

Coop walks up to Phoebe and smiles, "Ok. I will see you at Berkeley."

"Thanks." Phoebe says as she kisses Coop and turns away from him, continuing to get ready.

"You think the girls will be excited to meet their cousins tonight?" Coop asks as he watches his wife getting dressed.

"I hope so. I mean, they have Mel, Gabby and Penny to hang out with so that will be fun…hopefully." Phoebe answers.

"And what about magic?" Coop asks.

"What _about_ magic?"

"We haven't had any reason to use magic since we left. Do you think we should tell the girls about it?" Coop asks.

"They know about magic. They just don't know the extensive knowledge about it, like demons and warlocks and stuff like that." Phoebe says, "we haven't handled demons since a few months after the twins' were born so we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"If you say so. I'll go check on the girls." Coop says as he turns around and walks out.

Phoebe puts on her light shade of pink lipstick and then she stares at herself in the mirror.

 _A flash is seen and a mirror can be seen. The door of the Manor opens and rapid footsteps can be heard running in._

" _Piper, listen to me!" Phoebe can be heard saying as she runs after Piper. The three sisters are seen running into the Manor. Paige closes the door and follows her sisters. It is obvious to see that this scene takes place a few years in the past._

 _Phoebe's hair is longer than previously shown. Her long dark hair has been pulled into a ponytail which ends in the middle of her back. Paige's dark brown hair is also long and flowing, resting on her chest. Piper storms into the foyer and takes off her jacket angrily._

" _Don't talk to me, Phoebe. You're not making sense and I'm not trying to hear it." Piper says._

" _I'm not making sense? Do you hear yourself?" Phoebe says._

" _Piper…" Paige begins to say but Piper cuts her off._

" _Are you choosing her side too, Paige?"_

" _I'm not trying to choose a side, just trying to mediate." Paige answers._

" _Piper, I understand your frustration and you know that I am always behind you in everything you do but this is going too far." Phoebe says._

" _Going too far? There are no boundaries when it comes to Prue, Phoebe."_

" _I think you're being selfish, Piper."_

" _Selfish?! Saving Prue is being selfish?" Piper asks Phoebe as she walks towards Phoebe slowly._

" _You don't want to save Prue because she needs help, you want to save Prue because you need to fill the hole her absence created when she died; but you can't." Phoebe explains, "Rosier told us that she's gone…"_

" _Since when do we take the Elders for their word, Phoebe?" Piper asks angrily._

" _It's not just Rosier, Piper! Grams said it, Andy said it and so did mom." Phoebe says as she takes a deep breath, "Prue has been recycled, Piper. Her soul is no longer in this universe or any of the planes of existence. Instead of facing that and moving on, you're determined to take onto the task of doing the impossible."_

" _The impossible?" Piper laughs angrily, "We're the freaking Charmed Ones. Impossible does not exist in our vocabulary. Our sister needs us and she came to me."_

" _Right because you claim you sensed her aura and saw her apparition for a brief minute." Phoebe adds, "She's gone, Piper. There's no way to save someone that is beyond our powers. We may be the Charmed Ones but our magic has its limitations, Piper."_

" _Piper, Phoebe is right. You're letting your feelings cloud your better judgment." Paige finally adds._

 _Piper scoffs as she turns around and walks up the stairs, heading to the attic. Phoebe runs after her._

" _Let her go, Phoebe!" Paige screams after her as she runs after her sisters. She runs past the mirror in the foyer._

"Phoebe."

"Phoebe!" a voice can be heard in the distance. Phoebe stares at herself in the present in the mirror, daydreaming.

"Phoebe!" Coop's voice can be heard in the distance calling for her. Phoebe breaks out of her trance.

"Huh?"

"Your ride is here." Coop says.

"Thanks, honey."

"Are you okay?" Coop asks.

"Yeah." Phoebe says softly as she begins to apply blush to her cheeks. "I'll be fine."

Coop nods and walks away. Phoebe takes a deep breath and exhales slowly.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Across the water that borders San Francisco, the islands of Alcatraz and Angel can be seen. Sitting on top of the hill on Angel Island is a magnificent temple which is invisible to the mortal eye. The temple's gold and white pillars and walls reflect the light into the ocean. The interior of the temple does not match the exterior. Within the temple, the once gold and white walls show signs of wear and tear; vines and leaves have grown on the walls, with a few scorch marks in between. The once spotless and smooth black marble floors are covered with dust and enormous cracks dancing all over the throne room.

A man materializes into the throne room and walks up the stairs. Decked out in all-black attire, he stares at the six golden chairs and smiles. The golden chairs seem to have lost their luster, the shine that exuded from the magnificent chairs were now dull and unimpressive. The man turns around and sits down. He lifts his head and he is revealed to be Abaddon. He closes his eyes and waves his hand in the air. An apparition of a man appears before him. The transparent man bows his head lowly and Abaddon nods in return.

"Sebastian." Abaddon says in a low voice.

Sebastian lifts his head and replies, "My lord."

"Come closer."

Sebastian bows once more and moves closer to the throne.

"So you have any news to bring me?"

"Nothing of import, my lord. The officials you have put in place are running things as smoothly as we hoped. You have eyes in every dimension, every plane, every city, country and every corner of the underworld." Sebastian says.

"That's good to hear."

"The underworld hasn't been this organized since the Source, and even with him there was a little bit of chaos." Sebastian compliments.

"I have you to thank for that. Your counsel and your allegiance are unmatched and it is much appreciated." Abaddon says with gratitude.

"I would be able to roam even further than you would want me to only if I wasn't a ghost." Sebastian says.

"I am a powerful being, Sebastian and I am at the helm of all magic but with all that power, death is one tricky feat to master."

"I know it is nearly impossible, my lord," Sebastian says, "But it has been done before. There is one being who has been able to resurrect beings from the wasteland before."

"Who?" Abaddon asks.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In the depths of the temple, the dungeon is dark, dingy and cold. Eerie silence fills the darkness. Each section of the caves within the dungeon is shaped like catacombs, with nothing but dirt and rubble on the ground. Abaddon descends down the steps leading down to the dungeon. As he walks deeper and deeper into the depths, he sees his prisoners sitting one by one; some screaming at the top of their lungs but no sound can be heard, others just resigned to their fate, sitting in a corner rocking back and forth in their misery. He walks up further into the depths and stops. He turns around and faces the cave. With every cave he passes, the fire lights up illuminating his path.

In the corner sits a woman who stares at the wall across from her. Her once shiny golden hair has been tainted with grime and dirt. She dons a tattered grey dress that hang loosely on her body. Her face is gaunt with sunken cheekbones and skeletal features. She turns her head towards Sebastian and the hope that once exuded from her blue eyes has been erased.

"Hello, dear sister." Abaddon says with a smile, looking at Laylah.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The exterior of a restaurant can be seen. A stunning big establishment bearing dark, close to tinted windows with a big sign written in golden cursive, " _Halliwell's"_. The interior of the restaurant is just as stunning with a mixture of black and gold colors. The restaurant has a stage in the upper left corner and a DJ booth in the upper right. The DJ booth is elevated with a beautifully glazed _Steinway & Sons_ black piano at the base.

The main floor of the restaurant has been divided into three sections; the section on the far left contains numerous booths and tables for VIP personnel, the middle section has a lot of round, square and rectangular tables surrounded by black and golden chairs and the last section is a large dance floor with a setup of drums, a keyboard and microphone stand.

The chaos within the restaurant is massive as the staff moves up and down, in and out and all about with Piper standing in the midst, shouting directions and commands.

"Just hang the banner over there by the dance floor." Piper shouts.

A blonde woman enters the restaurant and walks towards Piper.

"Wow, it is busy like a bee hive in here." She says while standing behind Piper.

Piper turns around and sees Billie.

"Well good to see you, stranger." Piper says with a smile.

"Stranger? I haven't been MIA that long." Billie says as she folds her arms.

"Ever since you started working for the St. James hotel chain, we haven't been seeing a lot of you."

"In my defense, I got promoted to head of Human Resources so I've been a little busy." Billie says.

"You got promoted?" Piper asks and Billie nods in response.

"That's great, hun."

"Thank you. My hard work is paying off." Billie says.

"Yeah, that and the fact that you're sleeping with the CEO." Piper laughs.

"That's not how I got my job. He just recommended me for it."

"And you think the board will say 'no' to the owner?" Piper scoffs. Billie pauses.

"Anyway, how's Jerry doing anyway?"

"He's in New York at the headquarters. He's going to be gone for a week or two." Billie says as she looks around, "What exactly is going on here? What are your worker bees doing?"

"Nothing really. We're just getting the setup done for Phoebe's little banquet this evening." Piper answers as she continues to bark commands at her staff.

"Wait, Phoebe's back?" Billie says in surprise.

"Mhm." Piper answers as she scribbles notes on her board.

"When did she get back?"

"I don't know. Probably yesterday."

"Did you talk to her?" Billie asks.

Piper doesn't take her eyes off the clipboard. Billie folds her arms and inches herself closer to Piper.

"Piper?"

"What, Billie? What?!" Piper scowls.

"Did you talk to your sister?" Billie asks one more time.

"No, I haven't. Okay?! I haven't."

"Piper…" Billie exhales in disappointment.

"I don't want to hear it, Billie." She says as she continues to scribble on her board.

"If you don't want to speak to her, then why are you doing all of this? Why are you going through all the trouble to set this up for her if you don't intend to repair the damage between you two?" Billie asks.

"There is no damage. This is just a gesture of appreciation for my sister. Bygones type of thing. We are fine. There's nothing to talk about." Piper explains. She finally stops writing and looks up at Billie.

"We're trying to move past this. Don't make this into something it is not."

"How exactly are you trying when you haven't made an effort to even say a word to her? I'm not making this into something it's not, Piper. _You_ are." Billie says as Piper faces her. Billie's eyes pierces Piper's wall. Her hazel and emerald eyes attempt to read Piper's demeanor as Piper tries to hold her ground.

"I don't want to talk about Phoebe anymore, okay? Let's just drop it." Piper sighs.

"Ok, so how are the children?" Billie asks as she clears her throat.

"They're fine. They're coming tonight so you'll see them yourself." Piper answers.

"Am I invited tonight because I don't think I received an invitation?"

"Of course you are, Billie. What kind of a question is that?" Piper answers.

"Well, it's good to know." Billie says. Almost immediately, her phone begins to ring.

"Great…" Billie sighs out of frustration, "That's my cue to go. I guess I'll see you tonight?"

"Sure." Piper waves as she begins to scribble on her clipboard again. Billie walks away and begins to talk on her phone. Piper watches Billie walk away and sighs. Her eyes find a magazine cover with Phoebe's picture on it. She picks it up and the corners of her lips curl for a moment. She closes her eyes for a brief moment and then puts the magazine down.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A three decker apartment can be seen as numerous cars pass by in the distance. Inside the apartment, a circle of lit candles break the darkness that fills the room. A giant shadow leans against the wall waving with the flicker of every candle in the room. A woman sits in the circle; legs crossed, back straight and eyes closed. The woman dark brown hair tied into a bun sitting on top of her head. Her hands rest on her legs as she inhales deeply and exhales smooth breaths. A flash of white and blue orbs brighten the room as the lights rain down from the ceiling beside her. The lights disappear and a man materializes. An older gentleman with wavy white locks, the man dons a gold and white robe.

"Laura…" the man calls out to her gently.

"You know whenever you find a witch in a position like this, meditating and chanting; that is a universal sign that she is not to be disturbed." Laura says with a serene tone.

"I am aware. I guess I'll come back later." The man says as he begins to orb out but Laura jumps up and stops him.

"Wait." She blurts out as her hands extend to grab him before he orbed out., "I can do this later. Nothing is happening anyway."

Laura begins to blow out all the candles and shifts the curtains to the side, letting in some light. "So what brings you here, Rosier?"

"Just to get an update on your vigilance on the mission at hand." Rosier says.

"Nothing has changed, same old stuff from before. Unusual silence from both ends." Laura says as she walks to her refrigerator. She opens it up and takes out a bottle of water, cracks the lid open and takes a swig.

"That is unusual indeed." Rosier groans as he contemplates.

"What exactly has been going on?" Laura asks.

"Nothing, my dear. Nothing at all." Rosier says as he begins to pace.

"You're a terrible liar." Laura spits out, "You come to me ten years ago and ask me to keep an eye on the Charmed Ones, and I do. Then you ask me to keep an eye out for demonic activity, and I do. Demonic activity has been relatively low to damn near nonexistent for 7-8 years now but you still have me cruising the underworld looking for things that make no sense. You refuse to tell me why you ask me to carry out your surveillance missions but you come to me asking for my help. There are plenty of witches you can benefit you the most but you come to the one whose power lays dormant. I'm done. Unless you give me an inch, I won't subject myself to your meaningless quest."

Laura takes a deep breath; the light from her window pierces her eyes revealing how clear her blue eyes are. Rosier stares at her wrestling with himself internally; contemplating if he should tell her the truth. With a deep breath, he walks closer to her and sits down on her couch. Laura stands over him with her arms folded, awaiting an answer.

"I can't tell you much." He begins, "But I can give you a little bit of information to make you see what is about to happen."

With her interest piqued, she slowly sits down on the couch and brushes a single strand of hair from her eyes.

"What do you mean? What's going on?"

"As a delegator of magic, I pass information to whitelighters and witches about the past to prevent the future from repeating the same mistakes." he begins. He runs his fingers through his white hair and sighs.

"There are structures put in place in this world we live in, governed by magic. The structures that keep the grand design in balance." Rosier begins.

"You mean the scale of good and evil?" Laura asks.

"Precisely." Rosier answers as he pauses. He takes a deep breath and continues, "There are signs that have been put in place to alert us when the unthinkable is going to happen, when the grand design is going to be disturbed and the worst is dug out and brought to the surface."

"What are you talking about?" Laura asks.

"Trouble is brewing on the horizon. To the untrained eye and the ignorant mind, the Uncovering is the beginning. The signs are pointing to the Uncovering."

"The Uncovering of what?" Laura asks in confusion, "What signs?"

"When was the last time a demon attacked above ground or you were able to fight an evil entity of any kind?" Rosier asks.

"The Charmed Ones, Billie and I fought an evil spirit a few years back...or was it a darklighter? I don't even remember. That's how long it has been." Laura answers.

"An angry spirit bears no allegiance to anyone, they exist to serve their own needs, mostly to exact vengeance if it is personal." Rosier says.

Laura closes her eyes and her mind wanders far back into the past. She opens them sharply and gasps as a realization hits her. She looks at Rosier.

"You can't tell me that this is unusual. Demons, warlocks, darklighters. None of them have attacked for years and yet the grand design is still intact. Something is going on, Laura."

"What do you need me to do?" Laura asks faithfully as determination oozes out of her eyes.

Rosier takes a deep breath.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

If looks can kill, Abaddon would have ignited into flames and whatever was remaining would have been sent to the Demonic Wasteland to be devoured by the worm creature living beneath the hot sand. Laylah's gaze was menacing; every emotion coursing through her body and leered through her eyes. Abaddon's smile made it worse, and he basked in the hatred that emanated from his sister.

"Now, now sister." He says as he wags his finger tauntingly at her, "We can't have any of that now, can we?"

"What do you want?" Laylah asked through her gritted teeth.

"I believe you're familiar with my associate, Sebastian…" he begins to explain, "In our line of work, it is hard to find loyal people who pledge their allegiance to serve and actually follow through on that promise."

Laylah scoffs as she averts her eyes and stares at the wall across from her, "I see you're not wearing the traditional robes."

"You noticed!" Abaddon shouts, his words drenched in sarcasm. He takes a look at his outfit, a black blazer, with black slacks, with a black button up shirt underneath his blazer, "It does us some good to break tradition, you know? Those robes were very uncomfortable and heavy. You can't accomplish a lot with those but I digress."

Laylah rolls her eyes and sits down on her slab made of concrete rock, "Why are you here?"

"Right…" Abaddon mutters as he continues, "So good ol' Sebastian has been a faithful servant of mine for this past decade. He has helped me reorganize the underworld under my rule, establish assassins, lieutenants, sergeants and order to the demonic ranks. Hell, he even found where Gambrel stashed my hound."

He moves closer to the prison cave and whispers, "You remember my hound, Cerberus?"

"What. Do. You. Want?!" Laylah screeches with whatever might she could muster.

"You will do well to mind your tone with me or else…" Abaddon snarls. Laylah grills her brother and her gaze weakens after a moment.

"Good. Now, from what I understand in my absence, you have mastered the art of bringing the dead back to life or at least making them corporeal so they can become part of this world again. I was wondering if you can grant me that favor and do the same for Sebastian."

"You want _me_ to do _you_ a favor? Why don't you use the gauntlet to do it?" Laylah asks.

"The gauntlet magnifies my power and absorbs other powers," Abaddon sighs, "Since you are my sister and I love you, I figured I should rather ask than just take by force. You know, exercise that free will the rest of our brothers loved to emphasize so much."

Laylah musters her strength and stands up. She walks closer to her brother and smiles. The hope that had faded from her eyes returns momentarily as she purses her lips and spits in his face. Abaddon flinches and raises his hand in an attempt to strike her but he stops himself. He takes a deep breath and smiles as he wipes the spit from his face.

"Now…" he begins as he walks closer to the prison, "as I was saying; Sebastian in his infinite wisdom and magnificence, son of Tempus and the magnificent Atropos, foresaw this action and told me about it. See, this proves my point as to why I want to have Sebastian to be by my side."

He checks his lapels to see if there are any remnants of saliva. He sighs and places his hand on the rocky wall next to the cave in which his sister dwells.

"You can see that having a soothsayer with a reliable power of clairvoyance in your pocket is just good sense for business." Abaddon says, "So I'm going to ask you one more time and that is twice more than anyone usually gets; can you help me with Sebastian?"

With an icy cold stare and an angry tone she utters, "Go to hell."

Immediately, Abaddon guffawed upon hearing those words, his loud and boisterous laugh echoing through the dungeon. His laugh turns into a sigh as he looks to his sister. He raises his right hand, palm facing his face and a purple glow illuminates his hand. A brief moment later, his hand is covered with a dark brown armored glove, snug around the fingers and loose around his wrist.

"I've been there, darling." Abaddon says as his tone lowers and for the first time, his voice was devoid of sarcasm, "You know nothing of hell and after I am done with my plans, you will be begging for death. Let me assure you, you would think that will be your hell but that will only be a sliver compared to the hell I've been through."

In an instant, Laylah raises her hand and a shot of lightning shoots from her hands aimed towards Abaddon. The lightning bolt hits an invisible barrier between herself and Abaddon and bounces back towards Laylah, who ducks to avoid contact. The lightning bolt hits the rocky wall behind her, leaving a scorch mark.

"Building a dungeon where magic can enter but none can escape. That credit goes to me." Abaddon boasts, "At least I know now that your magic is still intact."

Abaddon clenches his fist and the gauntlet glows once more in the familiar purple hue and the purple light beams towards Laylah and hits her in the chest. She begins to glow as streams of white light exits out of her, flowing back towards Abaddon through the connection of the gauntlet. The whole dungeon lights up and shakes. Rumbles of little and big rocks fall from the ceiling as the other prisoners cower in fear. Abaddon absorbs the energy and after a moment, the light fades, returning the surroundings to normal.

Abaddon breathes a sigh of satisfaction as he looks at himself and then at his sister, who is laying on the ground. Laylah struggles to sit up but has no strength to perform such an easy action.

"You will pay for this." She says with her breathless stagger.

"Don't be so dramatic, dear." Abaddon taunts, "You are familiar with the power of the gauntlet. It amplifies my power and borrows the power of those of my choosing…as long as the owner is still alive. You'll get your powers back in an hour or two."

"When I get out of here, I will make sure that you will suffer in the worst way imaginable," she says as her hatred for him strengths her words, "I will make you wish for death but it will never come and when I have made you suffer, I will stand over you as I watch the life fade from your eyes."

"My magic can't harm you without this gauntlet so that means yours cannot harm me. Empty threats are always so amusing." Abaddon scoffs.

"My powers may not be able to, but I know the Charmed Ones' magic will be able to."

"The witches? Ha!" Abaddon laughs, "That, I'd like to see."

Abaddon turns to face the darkness in the dungeon leading back up the stairs.

"It's been nice chatting with you, sis. I'll try to visit more often. Can't make any promises but I'll try." He says, looking at her with a smile and then he finally whispers, "Thanks for the powers."

Abaddon walks away feeling triumphant. As he walks away, Laylah screams after him, "Mark my words!" to which Abaddon replies, "Consider them marked."

He steps onto the steps, ascending into the darkness and disappears from sight.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A chime from the elevator is heard as its doors slide open, revealing Phoebe standing there. Her rhythm of her heart beats faster with every step she takes as she steps out of the elevator. She walks in an office corridor, walking by a big red sign on the wall which reads, "THE BAY MIRROR". She takes a moment to look around as nostalgia kicks in.

" _This place looks the same_." She thinks to herself as she smiles. She walks up to the clear granite glass doors leading to the other side, a place which was practically a second home to her for nearly ten years. She sees the distorted silhouette of various people bustling through the glass. Taking a deep breath, she pushes the door open the door and walks in. She takes a couple of steps in and looks around. Her nerves fall at ease as she smiles, looking around the busy newspaper.

As she strolls further and further into the Bay Mirror, the noisy newspaper begins to fall silent and the noise turns into a few whispers with a pair of eyes glaring in her direction. In a few moments, the whole newspaper office falls silent.

"Hi guys!" Phoebe smiles nervously.

"Oh my God, Phoebe?!" a woman's voice is heard behind Phoebe. She turns around and sees her old assistant, a red curly-haired woman wearing a black pants suit walking towards her with arms extended.

"Sophie?!" Phoebe says with a smile as she walks into her arms and embraces. They separate and Sophie takes a look at Phoebe.

"I can't believe you're here! What has it been, 5 years?" she asks.

"Something like that." Phoebe answers.

"Wow, you have not aged a day!" Sophie compliments, "And I love your hair! You always had the best fashion sense among other things."

"Well, thank you." Phoebe blushes as she brushes her hair out of her face.

"How long are you in town for?" Sophie asks.

"I don't know. Maybe a week or two. Nothing concrete yet." Phoebe replies. She continues to look around, "What have you been up to?"

"Got promoted a few years ago to run the Business column, it's a step up from being your assistant…" she rants and pauses as she looks at Phoebe, realizing her words, "Not that there's anything wrong with being your assistant. I didn't mean it in a negative way…"

"It's ok, Sophie." Phoebe laughs as she stops Sophie, "I know what you mean."

"It hasn't been the same since you left, Phoebe." Sophie whispers to her.

Phoebe smiles as she looks down, "I really miss you guys."

"We miss you too." Sophie counters.

"Where's uh, where's Elise?" Phoebe asks.

As if almost on cue, Elise steps out of her office reading a folder, completely unaware of what is going on. She marches towards a cubicle, still reading her file.

"Seth, this article is good but it needs a little more zing. I can't explain it but I know you can…" she rambles as she bumps into an employee and then looks up. She sees her newspaper at a standstill, confused as to what is going on with her back towards Phoebe.

"What is going on? You guys are burning daylight while we have deadlines to meet." Elise shrieks.

"Hi, Elise." Phoebe says softly and immediately Elise's eyes widen. She takes a deep breath and turns around slowly to see the figure standing before her, the woman she thought she would never see again.

"Phoebe…" she utters, her tough exterior shedding with the mention of her name. She walks to Phoebe and hugs her tightly. She backs away from her and takes another look at her.

"Can't believe that you're actually here." she divulges as her voice breaks, looking at Phoebe.

"Can we talk somewhere private?" Phoebe asks.

"Sure, follow me." She turns around and walks towards her office with Phoebe following her. They walk into her office and shut the door. Elise walks around her desk and sits down. Phoebe stands across from her, arms hanging in front of her with her fingers interlocked.

"So," Elise begins, "Are you back for now or back for good?"

"For now." She answers, "UC Berkeley is honoring me with a PhD so I'm here to accept and then head back to London."

"How long are you here for?"

"A week or two. I haven't decided yet." Phoebe responds as she pulls a chair and sits down.

"I see." She says, as she rocks back and forth in her office chair.

"Elise, I…"

"You know that I haven't found anyone to replace you because you were a tough act to follow. Your shoes were too big to fill. People either failed at the job or were too scared to take it."

"Elise, I'm sorry." Phoebe apologizes.

"No, no." Elise raises her hand, "No apologies needed. From a business woman's point of view, I understand why you did it. Hell, I gave you the idea to write your book and gave you the connections. I knew you would have had to tour to promote your book but I didn't think you were going to stay away for good."

"Elise, believe me it wasn't the plan. It was more of a family related issue and this job was the casualty as a result." Phoebe explains.

"I understand. We lost a lot of subscribers and readers after you left. The only thing that kept us afloat was promoting your book in our newspaper and teasing your return." Elise admits.

"I don't know what to say, Elise." Phoebe says in a tone filled with regret.

"So why are you here?" Elise says, clearing her throat.

"The ceremony today for my PhD. I was wondering if you would like to come. It wouldn't feel right if you weren't there." Phoebe asks.

"Anything for you. I wouldn't miss it for anything." Elise smiles. Phoebe counters with a smile as well as she stands up.

"Thank you. I'll text you the venue and time. You still have the same number?"

Elise nods in response. Phoebe turns around and opens the door.

"You know if you do decide to stay in San Francisco, your office and job still awaits." Elise offers.

Phoebe looks back at her, nods with a smile and walks away. Elise smiles and turns on her computer.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The familiar exterior of P3 is seen in the afternoon with a maroon GMC Sierra parked in the front. Inside the club, Leo sits in the office, wearing his glasses and typing on this computer. He hears a noise in the distance and he looks away from the screen, scanning the area with his ears trying to pick up any more noise. Shrugging it off, he resumes typing until he hears another noise, sounding like a faint crash. He takes off his glasses and stands up. He buttons his blazer and cautiously steps out of the office.

He walks to the main area of the club and his eyes begin to wander, pinpoint the origin of the noise. He walks slowly towards the bar while he continues to scan the area, seeing nothing but an empty club. He stops pacing and then turns around to head back to his office when he is hit from behind. He falls to the ground on his knees and sees a pair of legs standing next to him. Instinctively, he sweeps his right leg in a roundabout motion and knocks the stranger on to the ground. He stands up quickly and places his leg by his throat.

"Ok! Ok!" the man yells as he raises his hands in surrender.

"Coop?!" Leo says as his eyes widen in surprise.

"Yeah 007, now can you let up?" Coop strains.

Leo takes his foot off Coop's throat and helps him stand up. Leo pulls Coop into a hug and then they separate.

"Where did you learn that?" Coop asks as he rubs the back of his head, "You could've given me a concussion."

"What the hell are you doing sneaking up on me like that? You have a death wish?" Leo asks with a smile.

"Apparently, you're an assassin now." Coop jokes.

"No, just a few martial arts training. Something to pass the time and keep me busy and useful just in case a situation arises, you know?" Leo explains.

"I guess that is a logical thought to have." Coop remarks.

"So how are you? How was Europe? Last time I talked to you was a few weeks ago when you and the girls were vacationing in Paris?!" Leo says in a high level of excitement.

"It's ok. I mean, it is fun but we were always longing to come home." Coop says.

"So why didn't you?" Leo asks.

"You know why." Coop replies. "That's why I was shocked that she decided to come to San Francisco and go to Piper's restaurant nevertheless, but at least we're here."

"I can't complain. It's really good to see you." Leo says.

"Same here." Coop adds, "Hey, are the guys going to the thing tonight?"

"They were invited, I know Paige is bringing Henry and the kids, and I don't know if Darryl is going but he was invited." Leo says.

"And what about Victor?"

Leo shrugs.

"Oh, I got your nieces in the car. Do you want to meet them?" Coop asks as he begins to walk towards the exit. Leo nods and follows suit as they walk up the stairs and open the door. Outside the club, a dark sedan Lincoln is parked outside. Coop walks up to the car and knocks on the window. The dark tinted window rows down and two of the three children are seen, all of them seemingly distracted by the little piece of technology they hold in their tiny little palms.

"Leo, here are my angels." Coop introduces, "From youngest to oldest Paisley, Paris and…where's Tricia?"

He sticks his head in the limousine and his muffled voice can be heard, "Tricia, come meet your uncle."

"Dad, I don't want to." Tricia can be heard arguing back.

"I'm not going to ask you again. Come out here and meet your uncle Leo or else I'm going to be taking your phone away."

With a loud over exaggerated groan, Tricia crawls towards the middle of the limousine and pokes her head through the sunroof.

"Matter of fact, all of you come out here right now." Coop commands.

"Dad!" Paris whines.

"Now!" Coop bellows.

"See what you did, Trish?" Paris complains as the limousine door swings open and the girls step out one by one.

"You guys can live without being on your phones for one second." Coop says.

Leo smiles as he watches the eye rolls and the folded arms.

In order from the oldest of the youngest were Phoebe's three daughters.

Patricia Marie Halliwell, nine years stood in front of Leo with her arms folded associated with the occasional scoffs. Her dark brown hair was long and neatly combed, straightened and ended in the middle of her back. She possessed light blue eyes which matched the fair blue sky. She wore a white shirt and black leggings with a blue jean jacket to match her eyes.

Her sister, Paris Victoria Halliwell, eight years of age stood next to her with her dark brown hair tied neatly into a bun. Her edges were laid, with her dark brown eyes mirroring her mother's. She wore a pink long sleeved shirt and a black skirt over her dark leggings. She was almost as tall as her older sister, although she was shorter by about an inch or two.

The youngest, Paisley Julie Halliwell at six years stood next to her big sisters, trying to copy their attitude. Her hair was darker than her sisters tied and swinging freely in a ponytail. She wore a long dark emerald dress adorned with golden stars and white leggings underneath.

"Introduce yourselves properly!" Coop instructs.

"Hi, I'm Tricia, that's Paris and Pais." Tricia introduces as she points to her sisters down the line.

Leo smiles, "Nice to meet you. I'm your uncle, Leo."

Tricia shifts her gaze from Leo to Coop with her head cocked to the side. Coop, reading his daughters' mind takes a deep breath.

"Fine. Go."

The girls turn around and march back into the limousine. Coop turns around and sees Leo holding in his laughter.

"What?" Coop asks.

"Nothing."

"Do you see what I have to deal with?" Coop asks.

"You haven't seen anything yet." Leo replies, "They're not even preteens yet. Just wait until they become teenagers."

"How would you know? You have two boys. Boys aren't that bad."

"I watched the sisters since they were around the same age; Prue, Piper and Phoebe. Your daughters are exactly like they were back then." Leo laughs as he walks away, "I'll see you later, Coop. Good luck, brother. You're going to need it."

Coop watches as Leo closes the club doors behind him. He turns around and walks towards the limousine.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The setting sun leaves multi colored streaks dancing across the sky. The ocean is calm as the tiny reflection of Abaddon's palace can be seen shimmering in the water. In the palace, Abaddon walks towards his throne room and sits down on his chair. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath as Sebastian materializes before him, transparent like before.

"My lord." Sebastian bows.

"Rise." Abaddon commands. Sebastian stands up, still with his head hanging low.

"I come bearing gifts." Abaddon says as he unveils his gauntlet and puts it on his right hand. He stands up and walks closer to Sebastian. The gauntlet begins to glow and Abaddon begins to chant,

" _Magic forces far and wide_

 _I beseech you from all corners of the earth._

 _Come to me, be by my side_

 _Reward the one who proved his worth_

 _From the depths, return says I_

 _Form his vessel in this time of rebirth"_

With a loud gasp, Sebastian opens his eyes and his transparent body becomes solid. He looks at his fingers and body as he pats himself down in disbelief. He looks up at Abaddon with tears in his eyes.

"My lord. I am forever in your debt and my gratitude will never fade." Sebastian says as he falls to his knees.

"Good." Abaddon smiles, "Your counsel and your loyalty is all I need to keep me from being destroyed by my enemies and advance my agenda."

Sebastian nods, "I will always provide you my counsel as long as you are willing to hear it."

"Very well."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The illuminated Golden Gate bridge can be seen at night, with a pair of tiny red lights in a line moving in one direction and a pair of white lights moving in the opposite direction. A quick sweep of the city of San Francisco and Piper's restaurant is seen in a distance, with a line of patrons waiting to get inside. The sign " _Halliwell's_ " is shining bright in a neon blue sign, similar to their P3 sign.

Inside the restaurant, the live band plays a tune that compliments the atmosphere. The crowd in their formal attire interact with each other with smiles, hugs and conversation. The buzzing of the multiple conversations taking place slightly overpowers the music. Piper stands in a corner as she watches her husband in the distance laughing with Coop, Henry, Darryl and Victor. Wyatt comes up to her and slightly leans against her. Wyatt stands next to his mother, the top of his head at shoulder height next to Piper.

"You ok, mom?" he asks.

"Hmm?" Piper says as she snaps out of her daze.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, honey. I'm fine. Don't you worry about me. That's my job." Piper says with a chuckle, "Where's Chris and Mellie?"

"There's with Aunt Paige, the twins and Junior." He answers.

"Have you met your cousins?"

"I already have, mom. We see them all the time." Wyatt scoffs.

"No, not Gabby and Penny. I meant Aunt Phoebe's kids." Piper says as she gestures in the direction of her nieces.

"I haven't yet. I don't want to."

"Why not?" Piper asks as she folds her arms.

"They seem weird and different. I don't know if I want to…"

"Wyatt, I hear the word "seem", which is an assumption. What do I always say about "making assumptions?" Piper asks.

"Mom…." Wyatt groans.

"Nope, I want to hear you say it."

"Never assume because you make an ass out of you and me." Wyatt drags his words, hushed and embarrassed.

"Now, go over there and say hi. It wouldn't hurt." Piper says.

"I'll go if you come with me." Wyatt remarks with a smile.

Piper opens her mouth to counter but she bites her tongue. She stares in the direction of where Phoebe stands, mingling with people and smiling, and a million thoughts run through her mind. She refuses to be backed into a corner and she refuses to set a bad example for her oldest. She looks at Wyatt, staring into his blue eyes. With a deep breath, she surrenders and begins to walk towards Phoebe. Wyatt claps his hands in triumph and walks after his mother.

Phoebe smiles as she shakes hands with an older gentleman with Elise standing next to her.

"She is on a roll, I tell you!" Elise says as she laughs loudly.

Phoebe smiles nervously as she takes a sip of her drink.

"So are we to expect a sequel to your bestseller? My wife has been asking about it and it's about time you put one out." The man asks.

"Um, I'm not exactly sure. I just want to pace and take my time. I have these wonderful angels to care for so a book is not in the works anytime soon." Phoebe says as she rests her hands on her daughters' shoulders.

"It's been five years since the release of "Ask Phoebe."." the man says with a confused tone, "There's only so much time you can let pass before the release of another book."

"I'm not a serial author but I assure you, I will let Elise and company know when I am ready to write one." Phoebe assures them with a smile. She smiled so hard, her cheeks felt frozen in place. Piper walks up to Phoebe with Wyatt.

"Hey, Aunt Phoebe!" Wyatt calls. Phoebe shifts her attention to her nephew and is surprised to see him meeting her at an eye level gaze.

"Wyatt? Oh my goodness! Look how big you've gotten!" Phoebe says as she extends her arms and hugs Wyatt tightly. Wyatt wraps his arms around her and the two separate.

"How are you?" Wyatt asks.

"I'm good. I'm doing well. What grade are you in now?" Phoebe asks.

"I start the 9th grade next week." Wyatt says proudly.

"High school?! I remember when you were just going to the 4th grade. Wow, how time flies. And your voice! It has gotten so deep!" Phoebe says as Wyatt nods in response. Piper watches the two interact without uttering a word.

"Oh, have you met your cousins?" Phoebe asks as she taps on Tricia's shoulders. Wyatt shakes his head.

"Girls." Phoebe calls as she tries to pry her daughters' attention away from their phones, iPad and tablets.

"Yes, mom?" Paris answers.

"I want you to meet your auntie, Piper and cousin Wyatt." Phoebe introduces, "Wyatt, these are your cousins Tricia, Paris and Paisley."

"Wyatt?" Tricia scoffs as she eye balls Wyatt, looking at him up and down with disgust, "What kind of name is that?"

"Patricia!" Phoebe yells.

"What?!"

"Be nice!" Phoebe scolds.

"Ugh…" Tricia rolls her eyes as she stares at Wyatt, "Hi."

Wyatt looks at Piper with a forced smile and then at his cousins, "Hello."

"Go out and mingle with your cousins." Phoebe instructs.

"But mom…" Paris whines.

"This is not a request." Phoebe says firmly, "Go!"

The three sisters drag their feet, walking away from their mother as Wyatt leads them away from the two elder Halliwell sisters. Phoebe takes a deep breath and finally after five years and six months later, she stares into her sister's eyes. Her eyes are filled with remorse and Piper tries to avoid Phoebe's gaze.

"Hi." Phoebe musters up the courage to say.

"Hey." Piper responds.

"The restaurant looks great. You did a good job with it. I'm proud of you." Phoebe says.

"Thanks. Congrats on the PhD." Piper counters.

"Thank you." Phoebe responds.

Silence lingers between the sisters in a room filled with bustling conversation. As if on cue, Elise grabs the microphone.

"Hello, everybody! Can I have your attention for just a moment?" Elise calls as her microphone releases a minor feedback. The crowd falls silent as all eyes fall on her.

"Tonight, we are here to help celebrate the achievements of one of the most hardworking people I have ever had the pleasure to work with…" she begins as her eyes searches through the crowd for Phoebe.

"Ah! There she is." Elise whispers into the microphone, "Phoebe, I have seen you rise from the bottom. Coming in to fill the position of an advice columnist whose name I do not even care to remember. I didn't even expect to hire you. I just thought you were going to be in and out like what's-her-face was. Then I read your first column and it literally made me laugh out loud. From that day forward, you blossomed before our very eyes into the Phoebe today. Your advice was mixed with humor and genuine kindness. The way you convey empathy towards the readers is uncanny."

Phoebe smiles as she looks down at her feet. She takes a sip of her drink and then looks up at Elise again.

"You went from being one of the greatest commodities of the Bay Mirror giving advice in San Francisco to being a household name in the entire world. You always strived for more, and I can honestly say I am proud of you." Elise praises as her voice begins to crack, "I cannot wait to see what else is in store for you, and what else you have to offer.

Elise raises her glass in the air. The crowd in the restaurant follow suit.

"To Phoebe."

"To Phoebe!" the rest of the crowd repeats. The room is filled with thunderous applause. Phoebe walks towards the stage and hugs Elise. Elise steps aside and Phoebe stands in front of the audience. She clears her throat.

"I don't know what to say. I just want to say that I am honored for the gift Berkeley has given me. There are no words to express my gratitude. I want to thank my husband Coop, my girls Tricia, Paris and Pais, my father and my sisters…and Elise of course."

The crowd laughs as Elise waves her hand at the crowd.

"You guys are the strongest support system anyone could ever ask for. Thank you." Phoebe continues.

The room bursts into applause as Phoebe steps off the stage and Elise follows her.

"That was beautiful, Elise." Phoebe says as she wipes the tears from her eyes.

"Meant every word." Elise says as she hugs Phoebe once more, "So did you give a second thought to coming back to work with us?"

"Excuse me?" Phoebe asks with a confused smile.

"To the Bay Mirror. You know we need you, Phoebe."

"Um…" Phoebe begins to say but her sentence was cut short as Victor leans in, arms stretched to embrace Phoebe.

"My baby girl!" Victor says proudly as he gives Phoebe a tight hug.

"Daddy!" Phoebe says enthusiastically. They separate and Phoebe stares at Elise.

"Elise, have you met my father?"

Elise shakes her head in response.

"Elise, Victor. Dad, this is my…this is Elise." Phoebe introduces.

"Nice to meet you." Elise says as she shakes Victor's hand.

"Likewise." Victor responds.

"Ok, now mingle and talk and I'll be back." Phoebe says as she tosses the remainder of her beverage in one quick swallow and walks away. Confused, Victor and Elise watch Phoebe disappear into the crowd as they face each other.

"She hasn't changed at all." Elise says with a laugh.

"Not at all." Victor cosigns.

Wyatt walks with Tricia, Paris and Paisley and meets up with Chris. Chris sits in the VIP section with Gabby, Penny, Junior and Melinda.

"Who's this?" Chris asks.

"Cousins." Wyatt answers, "Tricia, Paisley and Paris."

"Nice." Chris answers as he points down the line introducing himself and his company, "Well, I'm Chris and this is my sister Melinda. Cousins Penny, Gabby and Junior."

"Hi." One of the twins says as they both stand up as extends their hand to be gracious. Paris and Tricia roll their eyes in unison and fold their arms.

Gabrielle Rose and Penelope Grace, aged 10 stood side by side with dark brown hair with blonde highlighted streaks. Their hair is at shoulder length with hazel eyes to match. They look at Wyatt.

"Yeah, they do that a lot." Wyatt shrugs.

"We didn't want to come here, we knew it was going to be boring. We didn't want to deal with family members who were boring, no offense." Tricia rants.

"None taken?" Chris responds.

"Instead of going to Paris for our vacation, we are stuck here in San Francisco…" Paris says.

"Which is also boring." Paisley adds.

"No offense." Tricia says sarcastically.

"You know, saying no offense does not make whatever you say afterwards ok to say to other people." Henry Jr. says.

"Can't help it that we're speaking the truth." Paris says.

"There's nothing interesting about this place so excuse me for stating the obvious." Tricia adds.

"We have a Book filled with magic spells at our house." Mellie reveals.

"Mellie!" Wyatt says in a scolding tone. Chris also stares at Mellie with a menacing look but her eyes were focused on her cousins.

Tricia and Paris' eyes light up with hope for a brief moment and then scoffs.

"Magic book?" Paisley asks.

"They're lying, Pais." Paris says, "Don't believe them."

"No, we're not. You guys have heard of the Book of Shadows before, right?" Melinda asks.

"Melinda!" Chris screeches as he shoots Mellie with a scowl.

"What?!" Mellie finally acknowledges her brothers, "it's their book too."

"You're serious?" Tricia asks with intrigue.

Gabby and Penny nod their heads in response.

"Show us." Paris says.

Chris looks at Wyatt, whose grimacing look falters.

"She's right. It is theirs too." Wyatt yields.

Chris closes his eyes as his anger rises and his blood boils. He exhales sharply and then looks at Gabby, Penny and Junior who shoot him a persuasive look.

"Fine." Chris sighs.

"How do we get to your house without our parents?" Paris asks.

Wyatt and Chris look at each other and then at their cousins with a smile.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Drip, drip, drip.

The singular drop of water that falls into the puddle next to her cave was the only sound heard in the dungeon. In the darkness of the dungeon, Laylah lies on the concrete slab against the wall. All the strength has escaped her and the tiny bit of hope which lingers is beginning to fade. She shivers against the cold, damp and dark underground chamber that housed her for ten years. Her eyes are wide open to no avail, she cannot see a single thing in front of her, or the side of her. Her voice is weakened from screaming for help and from her brother extracting her powers earlier. The only sense of any use to her at the moment was her hearing, and all she could hear was

Drip, drip, drip.

" _I might as well keep my eyes closed_." She thinks to herself.

Tears begin to form in her eyes as the thoughts in her head rob her of any chance of escaping the prison she inadvertently created for herself. She resurrected her brothers only to have all but one meet their demise. She unleashed the monster that robbed her of everything she ever loved and now that same monster is going to take unleash devastation onto the world, just like he did once before. She closes her eyes as the tears fall down from her eyes and they streak down the side of her face and into her ear. She inhales shakily and sits up.

"This cannot be it." She whispers to herself. Something she thought was long gone was beginning to return. She closes her eyes and tries to conjure an image; something that could restore the hope that wanes with every drop that fell from the ceiling of the dungeon, joining the growing puddle on the ground.

Drip, drip, drip.

She musters all the strength she could find as she sits up and leans against the wall. She closes her eyes and tries to spark an image in her mind but fails.

"Come on, Laylah. You've got to try." Laylah says.

She begins to rock back and forth, falling deeper and deeper into her sub consciousness as she reaches for the power within.

Drip, drip, drip.

The sound of the water fades in and out as she rocks to the sound. A light appears before her, and a blurred image is seen. Laylah's smile begins to grow as she continues to rock back and forth, pleading and reaching out to anyone who can hear. She tries to reach further but she can't. The blur is not becoming clearer and her power, weakened cannot penetrate the barrier in her path. She continues to rock forward and backwards, as the sound of the dripping is no more.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In pure darkness, the only light that shines upon the Halliwell manor is the light emanating from the half-moon sitting in the night sky. The light shines through the windows and doors, illuminating the interior with moonlight. Three separate groups of flurry white and blue lights appear out of thin air, materializing Chris, Melinda and Paisley in one group; Wyatt, Paris and Junior in another; with Gabby, Penny and Tricia appearing behind them.

"Where are we?" Tricia asks.

"Our home." Mellie answers, "the Halliwell Manor."

"It looks old." Paris says unimpressed.

"Where are the lights?" Tricia asks, "Pais is afraid of the dark."

"Are you serious?" Junior laughs but Gabby hits him upside his head.

Chris walks further down the hall and flips a switch, turning on the lights on the second floor. They look around, observing their surroundings.

"Where is the Book?" Tricia asks.

"Up those stairs." Wyatt answers, pointing towards the attic.

"Attic?" Paris utters, "What a cliché."

"Follow us." Chris says as he leads the cavalry towards the stairs.

They walk up the stairs, slowly. After mere minutes feeling like hours, they arrive at the door of the attic. Chris turns the knob and tries to push it open but the door won't budge. Gabby orbs out from behind Wyatt, causing Paris and Paisley to jump.

"Where did she go?!" Paisley asks. Within a second, the group hears the door unlock from the other side of the attic door, the doorknob turning and the door swinging open with Gabrielle standing there with a smile on her face.

Her cousins walk past her and her sister smiles at her. The Charmed children walk through the attic with extreme caution in the dark. Henry Jr., being the last person to walk into the attic turns on the attic light. The group walks towards the podium where the Book of Shadows usually lies and discovers it empty.

"Where's the Book?" Paris asks.

"It's supposed to be here." Wyatt answers.

"Right. So I was right." Paris scorns, "They _were_ lying."

"No, we weren't." Mellie shouts defensively, "Mom must have hid it. I mean, it's not like they have fought any demons in a while."

"Sure." Tricia taunts, "Take us back to the restaurant before my mom finds out we're missing."

"We may not have found the book but we have the spirit board." Chris interjects.

"Spirit board?" Paisley asks.

"I mean, we can use the spirit board to help us find out where my mom hid the book." Chris says.

"Mom did say that the spirit board helped them find the Book before." Mellie adds.

Paris, Paisley and Tricia look at each other with skepticism and then at their cousins.

"Fine. What else do we have to lose?" Tricia sighs.

Melinda walks towards a table and underneath the table stood a chest. She opens the chest and takes out a couple of cloths that were draped over the contents inside. Finally, she pulls out the Ouija board and the pointer. She brings it towards her cousins and siblings.

"Can I see it?" Tricia asks without a tone of attitude in her voice for the first time. Mellie nods and hands it to her. Tricia's fingers run along the dents in the spirit board, tracing the letters. She turns the spirit board over and sees the inscription scratched into the back in cursive.

" _To my three beautiful girls, may this give you the light to find the shadows. The power of three will set you free. Love, mom_." Tricia reads.

"Wow." Paris gasps in surprise.

The rest of the crew smile at each other.

"Who wrote this?" Tricia asks.

"Our grandmother." Wyatt answers.

Tricia places the board at the center of little table in their midst and sits down.

"Who's going to move the pointer?" Junior asks.

"Whoever answers our question. All we have to do is join hands." Chris says.

The Charmed children sit down and form a circle around the Ouija board. They extend their arms and one by one, they join hands together. Finally, Tricia, Paisley and Paris join their cousins and the circle is completed. As soon as the last pair of hands were joined, the house begins to shake. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling begins to flicker on and off as the rumbling grows louder and louder.

"Uh, what's going on?" Paisley asks in a panicked voice.

"It's okay. Just hold on." Gabby assures her cousin.

The children look at the ceiling and then at each other. The chandelier continues to shake and all of a sudden, a bright white light is released as the house continues to shake. The light shines brightly over the children below, with their hands still joined. A moment later, the light from the chandelier disappears and a wave of blue energy begins to form right above the spirit board.

"What is that?" Penny asks as her eyes widen.

"I actually don't know." Chris says, also caught in surprise.

The blue energy flickers and disappears in a poof. The cousins stare at each other, breathing a sigh of relief. In an instant, the blue and pink wave sweeps the room, breaking the circular link the cousins have formed, knocking them backwards. The wave spreads across the entire city of San Francisco, causing a brief earthquake.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The wave sweeps across the neighboring ocean of San Francisco. The wave runs past Angel island, destroying the force field concealing the palace from sight and magical beings. Within the palace, Abaddon sits on his throne discussing important matters with Sebastian.

The wave causes a rumble and the palace begins to rumble, causing huge boulders to fall from the sky and the pillars that held the ceiling beginning to fall and crumble. Abaddon holds his hand up, suspending the boulders and pillars and telekinetically move them back in their spot as the rumblings stop.

"What the hell was that?" Abaddon asks as his eyes sweep the room, searching for an answer. Sebastian looks at Abaddon and then looks around, unsure of what just happened.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In the restaurant, the group of people are enjoying themselves drinking merrily. Paige and Phoebe laugh with their husbands, while Victor and Elise converse in the corner. The wave of energy sweeps through the restaurant in a quick second; causing the restaurant to quake for a second and the patrons to lose their footing while they try to grab onto something stable. Panic and fear fill the air just as quickly and the rumbling stops. The music stops playing and the chatter of concern begins to grow.

"Is everyone ok?" Piper asks aloud as the crowd provides an answer, assuring their safety.

Phoebe looks around, her eyes meets Piper's and then looks at Paige.

"Where are the children?!" Phoebe asks with a slight hint of hysteria in her voice.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The children lay in the attic, one by one seemingly unconscious. Penny wakes up first and immediately shakes Gabby awake. Groans can be heard as the rest of the crew begin to wake up.

"What happened?" Junior asks.

"I don't know." Mellie answers.

"Is everyone ok?" Wyatt asks as he receives mumbled responses.

"Tricia?" Chris calls, staring at his cousin.

Tricia looks at the spirit board, enthralled with her jaw dropped open. The rest of the Charmed children gather around and watch the spirit board as the pointer begins to spell out a phrase.

"Quick, grab a pen and paper from over there!" Wyatt commands. Paisley runs to the corner of the attic and grabs a pen and notepad. She runs back to Wyatt who quickly jots down the message being spelled.

"What did it spell out?" Penny asks. Wyatt turns over the notepad to reveal the message:

H-E-L-P L-A-Y-L-A-H.

The cousins stare at each other and then at the spirit board. Tricia, still with her mouth wide open is still at loss for words.

"Trish, say something!" Paris says to her sister.

Tricia finally blinks and only one word comes out of her mouth, "Cool."

FADE TO BLACK

END OF EPISODE

Guest Starring:

Kaley Cuoco as Billie

Ivan Sergei as Henry

Victor Webster as Coop

Geoff Stults as Sebastian

Sarah Jane Morris as Laylah

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Henry Jr. (Junior)

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Melinda (Mellie/Mel)

Hal Ozsan as Abaddon

Tiffani Thiessen as Laura

Barry Bostwick as Rosier

Rebecca Balding as Elise

Amanda Sankey as Sophie

FROM ARCHIVE FOOTAGE:

Shannen Doherty as Prue


	2. 10x02: Everything Happens For A Reason

**10x02: Everything Happens For A Reason**

Patricia Halliwell, the eldest daughter of Coop the Cupid and Phoebe Halliwell stood in the attic with the spirit board in her hands. Her eyes were fixated on the vague inscription on the back, zoned out of her mind. In a brief moment, she forgot she was surrounded by her cousins; people with whom she shared no attachments nor recent memories with. She had vague memories of her older cousins, Wyatt and Chris when she was younger but it wasn't anything significant to hold on to.

In her brief life, she had all these questions about her identity that often went unanswered. Her mother usually brushed off her questions with quick, empty responses that never satisfied her curiosity. Her father tried his best to answer her questions to the best of his knowledge but his ignorance of their past did not do Tricia any favors either. She knew she was a witch, blessed with powers from both her witch mother and her Cupid father but that was the extent of her knowledge.

Nonetheless, here she stood with a simple spirit board bearing a vague inscription she obviously did not understand; but deep down inside, she knew that it was the first piece she needed to solve the gigantic puzzle that was life. Tricia places the board at the center of little table in their midst and sits down.

"Who's going to move the pointer?" Junior asks.

"Whoever answers our question. All we have to do is join hands." Chris answers.

The Charmed children sit down and form a circle around the Ouija board. They extend their arms and one by one, they join hands together. Finally, Tricia, Paisley and Paris join their cousins and the circle is complete. As soon as the last pair of hands joins, the house begins to shake. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling begins to flicker on and off as the rumbling grows louder and stronger.

"Uh, what's going on?" Paisley asks in a panicked voice.

"It's okay. Just hold on." Gabby assures her cousin.

The children look at the ceiling and then at each other. The chandelier continues to shake and all of a sudden, a bright white light is released as the house continues to shake. The light shines brightly over the children below, with their hands still joined. A moment later, the light from the chandelier disappears and a wave of blue energy begins to form right above the spirit board.

"What is that?" Penny asks as her eyes widen.

"I actually don't know." Chris says, also caught in surprise.

The blue energy flickers and disappears in a poof. The cousins stare at each other, breathing a sigh of relief. In an instant, the blue and pink wave sweeps the room, breaking the circular link the cousins have formed, knocking them backwards. The wave spreads across the entire city of San Francisco, causing a brief earthquake.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The wave sweeps across the neighboring ocean of San Francisco. The wave runs past Angel Island, destroying the force field concealing the palace from sight and magical beings. The children lay in the attic, one by one seemingly unconscious. Penny wakes up first and immediately shakes Gabby awake. Groans can be heard as the rest of the crew begins to wake up.

"What happened?" Junior asks.

"I don't know." Mellie answers.

"Is everyone ok?" Wyatt asks as he receives mumbled responses.

"Tricia?" Chris calls, staring at his cousin.

Tricia looks at the spirit board, enthralled with her jaw dropped open. The rest of the Charmed children gather around and watch the spirit board as the pointer begins to spell out a phrase.

"Quick, grab a pen and paper from over there!" Wyatt commands. Paisley runs to the corner of the attic and grabs a pen and notepad. She runs back to Wyatt who quickly jots down the message being spelled.

"What did it spell out?" Penny asks. Wyatt turns over the notepad to reveal the message:

H-E-L-P L-A-Y-L-A-H.

The cousins stare at each other and then at the spirit board. Tricia, still with her mouth wide open is still at loss for words.

"Trish, say something!" Paris says to her sister.

Tricia finally blinks and only one word comes out of her mouth, "Cool."

"Who the hell is Laylah?" Chris asks as he scratches his head.

"Language…" Mellie scolds her brother as she struggles to stand on her feet.

"I don't know but it is obviously someone who needs our help." Penny retorts.

"This sounds like an adventure…" Paris blurts out excitedly. She looks at her sisters and then at her cousins, "We should try to find her and help her."

"No, what this sounds dangerous." Gabby says nervously, "We should tell our parents and have them deal with it."

"Oh yeah?" Paris asks, "And are you going to tell them how we snuck out of their party to practice magic? I'm pretty sure that you guys are not allowed to use magic without supervision just like us."

"Can we take a second to figure out what just happened?!" Wyatt finally interjects, trying to make sense of what just happened.

"What do you mean?" Junior asks.

"What do I mean?" Wyatt looks at his cousin in shock, "The flickering lights, and the earthquake, that blast looking thing that spread out from the center of the circle we created and knocked us on our asses? What the hell was that?"

"Language." Mellie says once more, this time louder than the last. Chris and Wyatt stare at her and roll their eyes.

"That is something that we can try to ask our parents about so they can help us figure it out. I'm pretty sure they'd understand." Gabby replies.

The room begins to be filled with chatter; voices rising as they begin to argue and their voices overlapping one another. Tricia stands in the midst of all of the commotion when she finally decides to break the silence.

"Everything happens for a reason." she mutters softly still in her trance. Her voice was at the level of a mere whisper but it somehow commanded the attention of everyone in the attic. The room falls silent and all eyes fall on her.

"Excuse me?" Chris asks.

"Everything happens for a reason." Tricia reiterates, her voice louder than before. "I have heard that phrase every single time something extraordinary happens. When my headaches caused all the bookshelves in the entire library to fall at school, my mom will say ' _everything happens for a reason_.' When Paisley freaked out our neighbor's kid when she tell her everything he was thinking and feeling, our mom always said, ' _everything happens for a reason_.' When Paris got angry and accidentally set her class on a time loop, mom said…"

"Everything happens for a reason." Paisley completes her sister's sentence. Tricia looks at her sisters and smiles. She walks closer to her cousins with her sisters standing next to her, flanked on both sides.

"I'm pretty sure that we were not the only ones who hear that phrase all the time." Tricia says.

"You're not." Wyatt smiles, "I don't know what all that stuff was. Did we cause the earthquake? Probably. Did our powers do that wave thing? Maybe. That doesn't matter. What matters right now is that we were here and somehow, we received a message from someone out there that needs our help. We happened to be here at the right time. Why?"

"Because everything happens for a reason." Chris answers.

"They didn't ask our parents, they asked us." Wyatt continues, "It's on us now. If our mothers were meant to handle this, they would have received it instead of us. We don't have to figure out what that means but all we know right now is that we have a lot of work to do and the only explanation for it is…"

"EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON!" the Charmed children yell in unison.

As the cousins begin to discuss and get riled up about their first adventure, Wyatt looks at Tricia and nods. Tricia returns his gesture with a smile as a light of hope flickers in her blue eyes.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

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STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Dorian Gregory

Created by: Constance M. Burge

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The half-moon hovers over the northern tower of the Golden Gate Bridge as the lights from the bridge casts it in its golden glow. A change of scene shows the exterior of the restaurant, Halliwell's. Within the restaurant, the patrons still mingled amongst each other. The drinks still flowed, the conversations and laughter filled the room with nary a worry or care in the world. Phoebe runs through the crowd; throwing random courtesies such as 'excuse me', 'pardon me' and the like at the guests as she maneuvers her way towards her sisters. She finally reaches Piper and Paige as she performs one final sweep of the room with her eyes and then she turns to her sisters.

"They're nowhere to be found." Phoebe says in a panic.

"They couldn't have gone too far." Piper says, surprisingly in a calm tone, "Take a deep breath and relax."

"Piper, I have three missing children under the age of ten. Relaxing is not in the stratosphere of my stress level right now." Phoebe shouts.

"Look, all of our kids are missing. That means they're together, that counts for something, right?" Paige tries to lighten the mood. She takes a sip of her champagne.

"Um, no." Phoebe cuts in, "Paige, can you sense them?"

"I don't know if it will work. I mean, they're all neophyte witches so the sensing thing would not really work."

"Paige, they're neophyte witches who have had their powers since they were born. They have to be on your radar somewhere. You can try nine times. I'm sure you're going to find one of them." Phoebe rants.

"Ok, ok!" Paige says as she waves her hands trying to calm Phoebe down. Paige closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. Mere seconds feel like minutes as Piper and Phoebe watch her closely, awaiting an answer. In an instant, Paige opens her eyes and then looks at her sisters.

"I sensed Wyatt. He's in the Manor, assuming that that's where they all are." Paige says.

Phoebe turns around and walks away from her sisters. Piper follows Phoebe, leaving Paige by herself.

"Yeah, don't mind me. I'm just going to stand here by myself." Paige says as she takes a gulp from her champagne glass. She looks around, bored as she watches her sisters walk closer and closer to the exit. She takes a deep breath and runs out after her sisters.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Sebastian picks up one of the boulders resting on the steps in the throne room and obliterates it in his hands. He takes a look around the throne room and sees the catastrophic disaster before him. Abaddon walks into the throne room, arms folded as he observes his throne room.

"What could have done this?" he asks.

"The only powerful people known to do something like this are the witches I warned you about." Sebastian answers.

Abaddon walks away from Sebastian and stands in the middle of the throne room. He raises his arms and claps loudly, releasing a wave of energy which begins to clean up and brighten the throne room. Boulders disappear, the pillars straightened and the cracks across the floor and along the walls are sealed. The ancient lampstands are ignited as the flames flicker, lighting up the room.

"Why not use electricity, my lord?" Sebastian asks respectfully.

"I don't know." Abaddon asks as he smiles, "I have a certain admiration for dramatic flair. It brings out the ominous feeling a lair should possess, don't you think?"

Sebastian nods, "My lord, about the incident that just happened…"

"So you really think these witches are powerful enough to shake the earth?" Abaddon asks as he walks closer to Sebastian. He stands next to him and awaits his answer as Sebastian ponders.

"I have never seen such power in all my years, I just want to be certain. Do you think your sister had something to do with it?" Sebastian asks.

"No." Abaddon answers flatly, "She most likely just received the powers I borrowed from her. She's too weak to be performing powerful feats like this; and to what end and purpose will that serve? She's still imprisoned, is she not?"

"Yes, my lord." Sebastian answers.

"Then we do not worry." He says in a whisper, "We have more important things to worry about."

"What do you have in mind?" Sebastian asks his demonic sovereign, trying his best not to overstep his boundaries.

"I need you to find something of mine; a personal artifact that I need before I can get this show on the road."

Abaddon walks closer to Sebastian and places his palm on his head. His hand glows for a moment and the purple light passes from his palm and onto Sebastian's head, which glows for a second. Sebastian closes his eyes as he absorbs the energy and then opens them sharply as soon as the light fades. His eyes slowly shift downward as he backs away from Abaddon and then looks back up at him.

"My lord, I…"

"So can you do that for me?" Abaddon asks.

"I don't even know where to begin to find that and even if I knew, it was destroyed." Sebastian replies.

"Don't worry about the condition of the artifact. Leave that to me. Find out where it is and bring it to me." Abaddon says with a smile. He turns around and begins to walk away when he pauses.

"You haven't failed me yet. Don't fail me now." he says coldly as he resumes his walk and exits the throne room.

Sebastian still standing in the throne room swallows a lump in his throat and takes a deep breath. His mind begins to race against the fast beating of his heart. Fear shot up and down his body and for an instant, he begins to wonder if he did the right thing bringing Abaddon back. He shakes his head as if it would be able to erase the thoughts he wishes he never had. He takes a quick glance around the throne room and then disappears in a flash of dark red light.

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Wyatt sits down on the couch with Penny and Gabby sitting on both sides of him, watching Chris pacing back and forth in the shadowy attic. Tricia, Junior and Paris sit on the couch on the other side of the room with Mellie and Paisley sitting at their feet on the ground. Chris steps over a loose board in the floor as he paces.

"What are you doing?" Tricia asks but Chris doesn't provide an answer.

"He's thinking." Wyatt answers, "He does this a lot when he tries to sort out things."

"I see." Tricia says, "So how do we go about starting this?"

"We need to find out who this Laylah person is, where she is and what we need to do to get to her." Penny replies.

"How do we do all of that? 'Help Laylah' doesn't give us a whole lot of information to go on." Mellie utters her concern. She looks at Chris who continues to pace back and forth.

"This is why I say we should let our mothers know and they can probably find her in a heartbeat." Gabby says as she tries to dissuade her cousins from taking on a task that was clearly out of their league.

"Gabby, we got this." Penny says as she grabs her sister's hand. Gabby takes a deep breath and snatches her hand away from Penny's grasp.

"How do we know she is good and not evil? How do we know that this is not a trap?" Gabby asks as her voice shakes with anger, "You want to go risking your lives for someone we don't even know."

"I know you're scared, Gabby but what kind of people will we be if we did not do anything?" Junior asks, "Mom always said we should do the right thing and even if it turns out that we were wrong, at least we tried."

Gabby's eyes travel around the room and find the faces of each and every one of her cousins; the look on their faces shows no sign of relenting about this issue. Drawing a deep defeating sigh, she leans back into her couch and folds her arms.

"So back to the drawing board; where do we go from here?" Tricia asks.

"Can't whitelighters sense people?" Mellie asks, "I mean, the majority of the witches in this room are whitelighters too so that can be useful, right?"

"We have to know who we're trying to sense, that is if they haven't been blocked yet." Wyatt answers, "We don't know this Laylah person so we have to find another way."

"What about a spell?" Paris asks.

"Have you ever cast a spell before?" Wyatt asks, "Have any of you ever cast a spell before?"

No one answers and the only sound that breaks the silence in the attic is Chris' footsteps creaking and dragging across the floor.

"Ok, any other ideas?" Paisley asks.

Chris stops pacing and turns to face the rest of the people in the room.

"Magic to magic." He finally comments.

"Huh?" a confused Mellie asks.

"We can tap into our collective powers and use it to find her." Chris states.

"How?" Paris asks, "I don't know about you guys but besides the minor outbursts we have experienced with our powers, I have never used my powers intentionally…"

"And never have we tried to find someone, no less." Junior adds.

"I read a lot, because I know we haven't had an opportunity to use our magic so I read to make up for that fact. I know my brother and I can help you guys tap into your powers and make this work." Chris contends.

"We can?" Wyatt questions as he stares at his brother, trying to figure out where his mindset is.

"Wyatt, we are the only two people in this room who used our powers regularly until Aunt Phoebe left; then it was a ban of magic in this house." Chris says, "You may have forgotten, but I haven't."

"This is going to take longer than the time we have now to do this." Wyatt notes.

"That's why we have to meet again tomorrow and work on this. We don't have to perfect it but just get a handle on our powers long enough to find this person and rescue her." Chris says passionately, "It's either that or we give in to Gabby's idea and tell the grownups."

"I have my tryouts tomorrow, remember?"

"Well, we can do it after that then." Tricia says happily.

"Meet where? Our parents are going to be on us." Penny asks.

"Here, in the attic." Mellie answers. "My mom and dad are too busy to be around to supervise us. It's perfect."

"And our mom wanted us to get to know and bond with our cousins, so this will definitely help with that." Paris adds.

"We need to find a codename for this mission." Junior recommends.

"Codename? No, that's lame." Penny shoots down her brother's idea.

"No, he's right. We can't talk about this around the grownups so a codename will be good for us to talk about it in plain sight." Wyatt agrees.

"So what should it be?" Paisley asks.

"Codename Innocent?" Mellie suggests.

"No. That's too obvious," Tricia states, "Whitelighter?"

"No" the group says in unison.

"How about 'Sierra Lima'?" Wyatt interjects.

"Really?" Chris stares at his brother with an incredulous look.

"No, bear with me. Saving Laylah; initials S.L. S.L in military phonetic alphabet is _Sierra Lima_." Wyatt explains.

"Why can't it just be S.L?" Gabby asks.

"S.L will raise too many questions. Sierra Lima is too random of a term to care." Wyatt clarifies.

"Sounds good." Chris accedes, "Operation Sierra Lima it is."

"How do you know about military alphabets anyway?" Tricia asks.

"From my dad." Wyatt answers proudly with a smile, "He was a medic in the army."

A loud screech of tires is heard outside in the streets. Everyone in the attic jumps up as Chris walks to the window in the attic and looks down. He turns around to face his cousins.

"They're here."

"Who?" Paris asks.

Chris takes a deep breath and sighs, "Our parents."

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The front door of the Manor swings open and Phoebe marches into the dark foyer, with Piper and Paige running behind her. Paige closes the door behind her and turns on the lights on the first floor.

"Are you sure they're here?" Piper asks as she tries to catch up to her sisters.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Paige repeats, "Besides, all the lights in the house were off except the second floor and the attic so if they aren't here, someone is."

Phoebe remains quiet as she runs up the stairs and her sisters chase after her.

In the attic, the cousins stand together bracing themselves for the inevitable wrath running up the stairs on the other side of the closed attic door. The fear grows on their faces as the collective footsteps draw closer to them. Then in an instant, the attic door flies open with Phoebe standing in the doorway of the attic with Piper and Paige joining her a few seconds later, out of breath.

Phoebe runs to her children and hugs them tightly, while reaching out to Wyatt and Chris gesturing them to come closer. With all of them in a group hug, Piper and Paige walk closer and join them. They all separate and the children stare at each other, breathing a victorious sigh of relief knowing that they are not in trouble.

"Are you guys ok?" Phoebe says with her voice filled with worry. The children nod in response.

"Good. You ALL have some explaining to do!" Phoebe screeches, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"

"And why did you guys leave the restaurant without our permission?" Piper asks.

"And don't let me find out you used your magic to get here!" Paige adds.

The children stand before the Charmed Ones, muted by fear.

"Well?!" Phoebe yells.

"Mom?" Wyatt steps out of the crowd, "You told me you wanted me to get to know my cousins and talk to them. They wanted to see the house where you guys grew up in."

"I meant talk to them about shared interests, sports, movies, music, something." Piper counters.

"Well, you weren't exactly specific." Wyatt mutters under his breath.

"What was that?!" Piper asks angrily.

"Nothing, mother." Wyatt answers dryly.

"And why are you guys in the attic of all places?" Paige asks.

"The interesting part of the house was the attic." Tricia throws in her two cents.

"Young lady, you do NOT want to be saying anything right now." Phoebe says as she throws Tricia an angry side glance. Tricia scoffs and folds her arms.

"Did you guys feel the earthquake?" Piper asks.

"Yes." Paisley answers.

"It looks like everything is intact, nothing is out of place." Paige says as she looks around for any damage.

"We're leaving." Phoebe commands. "Go downstairs and wait for me there!"

"But mom…" Paris pleads.

"NOW!" Phoebe yells.

"Bye you guys." Tricia says softly as she storms out of the attic in anger. Paris and Paisley follow her dragging their feet; their mood evident by their heads hanging low in sadness.

"Don't forget Sierra Lima!" Wyatt shouts after them but lowers his head quietly after his mother shoots him an angry stare.

Paige folds her arms staring at her daughters and Junior angrily. Her glare said everything she was thinking and her children knew that look very well. They followed suit, walking out of the attic looking depressed.

"I'm just going to go see them off…" Wyatt says as he tries to run after his cousins but Piper stops him.

"Nope. All three of you, to your rooms. No TV, laptop, iPad or whatever. Your father will deal with you when he comes home."

"Come on, Mellie." Chris says softly as he grabs his sister's hands and walks out of the attic with Wyatt.

Phoebe walks over to the couch and collapses into her seat, groaning loudly out of frustration.

"You ok?" Paige asks.

"Did you see their attitude and stubbornness?" Phoebe asks.

"Well they get it from their mother, that's for damn sure." Piper jokes.

"Piper, that's not funny." Phoebe states in a serious tone.

"I think it is. You were just like this when you were their age, maybe a little bit worse but yeah." Piper laughs, "Come on, admit it."

Phoebe cracks a smile at Piper's remark and sighs deeply. She looks around the attic and smiling as a million memories run through her mind.

"This place looks the same. You haven't changed a thing." Phoebe says as she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, "it even still smells the same."

"Well, after you left we had no reason to come up here anymore; plus the demons stopped attacking so I locked the attic back up." Piper explains.

Phoebe's gaze falls on the long, wooden podium where the Book of Shadows used to rest.

"Where's the Book?" Phoebe asks.

"I hid it in the safe in the corner of the attic." Paige answers.

"Why did you lock it up?" Phoebe asks, "It's not like demons can touch the book anyway."

"I didn't hide it from the demons. I hid it from the kids to prevent them from finding it and using it." Piper answers.

"And how is that working for you?" Phoebe asks.

"It worked well up until you came back so…"

"Right." Phoebe whispers. Phoebe stands up and walks towards her sisters.

"Thank you for throwing me that banquet. I know you didn't have to and I appreciate you going through all of that for me." Phoebe says gracefully.

"Well, you didn't give me much of a choice, did you?" Piper states.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asks.

"You called me and asked me to do this for you. I couldn't very well say no."

"Call you?" Phoebe says with a sense of confusion, "I didn't call you, Piper. _You_ called _me_."

"That's not how I remembered it." Piper adds.

"So if I didn't call you and you didn't call me, who did?" Phoebe asks. In that moment of silence, Piper and Phoebe's eyes fall on Paige's who bites her lips and relents.

"Alright! Alright, it was me!" Paige confesses, "I changed my voice and called both of you."

"Paige!" Phoebe and Piper shout at the same time.

"It has been five and a half years since the stupid argument and I felt like it was time to let it go. I felt it was time to let it go a month after you guys had that stupid fight but I couldn't think of anything. I missed my sisters, ok?! I missed the lunches, the get-togethers, the three of us together doing fun things together. And now that we have children, your petty feud was robbing them of the chance to know each other and form memories together." Paige explains in her lengthy, passionate speech with tears filling her eyes, "When the Bay Mirror announced that they were trying to honor you for with your PhD, the idea clicked in my head. I have no regrets and I will do it again."

Phoebe and Piper, looking guilty walked up to Paige and hugged her together. Their embrace causes Paige to break down even further. They separate and Paige wipes her tears.

"You're right." Phoebe says in a sad tone as she looks at Piper.

Piper nods in agreement.

"So, are you staying for long or are you leaving soon?" Piper asks Phoebe.

"The plan is to leave the day after tomorrow so I can get the girls back in time to start school."

"Ok, maybe we can go get lunch tomorrow for old times' sake? Catch up?" Piper offers.

"Sure. I would like that." Phoebe accepts with a smile, "I got to get going, it's late and it's past the girls' bedtime."

"Sure. I will call you tomorrow morning to set it up." Piper says.

Phoebe nods and walks out of the attic. Piper turns to Paige.

"What?" Paige asks.

"Nothing…" Piper answers with a smile as she walks out as well. Paige takes a deep breath and looks at the podium. She walks over to the podium, places her palms on the empty podium stand and runs her hands up and down the smooth surface. Her smile grows and her eyes close.

"Mom!" a voice can be heard calling in the distance. The voice snaps her back to reality. She marches out of the attic and closes the door behind her.

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The crickets can be heard chirping outside as the moonlight streams through the window of the bedroom. One half of the room was bright and the other half where the bunk bed is was drenched in darkness. Chris and Wyatt lay in their bed; Chris on his side with his eyes closed and Wyatt lying on his back, his head resting on his folded arms and staring at the ceiling.

"Chris?"

"Chris?"

"I know you're awake…"

"What?" Chris groans.

"Do you think I'll be able to make the team tomorrow?" Wyatt asks nervously.

"You don't think you will?" Chris asks with his eyes still closed and his voice masked with fatigue.

"I don't know. This is high school, you know? Different stage, different stakes and all."

Chris takes a deep breath, "You went through this before when you started little league baseball and you aced the tryouts. Same thing middle school football and summer camp. That's why you were the captain. You got this, bro. Don't think about it. Let your talent speak for itself."

A smile of confidence grows on Wyatt's face, "You're right. I don't know how you do it but you always know the right things to say."

"Can I go back to sleep now?" Chris whines with his eyes still closed.

"Yeah. Sorry." Wyatt apologizes.

Wyatt's voice breaks the brief moment of silence that lingered in the room.

"You know, you can do this too."

"What are you talking about?" Chris asks with an exasperated sigh.

"With the cousins. I know we do not have a lot of time to help them with their powers but I know you will be able to guide them to the best of your ability. You were always good with your words and somehow, you always were able to make people see the best version of themselves just by talking. Maybe it's because of all the books that you read, I don't know but I always envied that about you. But anyway, you got this too."

Silence fills the air again.

"Chris?" Wyatt calls out again to no response.

"Well, good night bro." Wyatt sighs as he rolls over to his side and closes his eyes.

Panning down from the top bunk to the bottom, Chris still lies on his side with his eyes closed. He slowly opens his eyes revealing the bit of worry that glistens in his blue eyes along with the moonlight shining in the room.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The sun rises as quickly as the moon falls with the clouds rushing through the sky. A few blocks across from the Port of San Francisco, the blue and white house of the Mitchells can be seen. The clock embedded in the tower of the port chimes loudly and Paige sits on her bed in her pajamas, watching the tower from her window. Henry runs around her, getting dressed for work while Paige sits there in a trance.

"So you three fixed everything?" Henry asks from the closet.

"I guess. They started talking again but nothing was really said. I did most of the talking." Paige answers.

"What do you mean?" Henry shouts.

"I mean, they didn't really talk about the issues that they had but they are willing to move on." Paige states.

"Knowing them, that will be temporary." Henry says as he comes out of the closet with his shoes. He sits down next to Paige and begins to put them one shoe.

"Why do you say that?" Paige asks.

"Because unless they talk about it, it will always be in the back of their mind as unresolved issues; and with your line of work, that is a dangerous thing." Henry grunts as he puts on the other shoe and laces them.

"I never thought about it that way." Paige ponders.

"That's the worst case scenario. You said you guys haven't fought any demons in a while, right? When was the last demon you and your sisters fought was or the last innocent you saved? Five years ago?"

"Something like that." Paige answers.

"Hopefully, it won't come to that." Henry says as he stands up and walks back into the closet.

"Yeah, me too." Paige mutters.

"At least the kids got to hang out with their cousins, though." Henry yells from the closet.

"Yeah, but I didn't like how they went about doing it." Paige says as her tone changes.

"Why?"

"They left us at Halliwell's without telling us or us giving them permission; they orbed half way across the city to an empty house to do God-knows-what." Paige rants.

"But they were all together, like you wanted." Henry adds.

"That's not the point. And on top of that, they want to go back there today like they aren't in enough trouble as it is."

Henry comes out of the closet wearing a leather jacket. He walks to his wife and sits next to her again.

"Listen, I don't know what it is about that house you guys love so much but there's something about it that attracts all you Halliwells over there. I seem to remember in our first year of marriage, you spent more time in that house than you did in our apartment, remember?" Henry asks rhetorically, "You complained to me yesterday about the kids getting on your nerves and now that they have finally found a good place to spend their time, you're complaining? What better place can you think of for them to spend their remaining summer days than the Manor with their cousins?"

"Yeah, you're right but I don't want them to be doing things they're not supposed to be doing, without supervision." Paige worries.

"You mean, perform any magic without you watching them?" Henry deduces.

Paige smiles at her husband. Henry grabs her hand and strokes it gently.

"Look, magic is a part of you. You have made that clear, meaning that magic is a part of them too. I don't know why you haven't had them explore that part of their lives but you know that it is coming. Until then, let them enjoy being kids. Besides, didn't Piper hide and cloak the Book of Shadows from their reach?"

"Yeah, she did." Paige answers.

"Then stop worrying! You're turning into Piper being all neurotic and stuff." Henry jokes as he stands up and kisses Paige.

He begins to walk away when he pauses and turns around, "Besides, you get to have lunch with your sisters before Phoebe leaves tomorrow. Carpe diem. Leave them at the Manor and let Chris and Wyatt babysit them. Give yourselves the spa day you deserve."

Paige nods in agreement and blows a kiss to Henry.

"Have fun today and I will want to hear all about it when I come back. I'll drop off the kids at Coop's. His girls have been asking to see them, if it's ok with you. " Henry smiles.

"It's fine." Paige answers as she watches her husband walk out the door.

"Love you!" Henry shouts as he slams the door shut.

"Love you too." Paige replies under her breath with a smile. She takes a deep breath and turns her eyes back towards the clock.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Coop cleans up the counter of the kitchen as he places the dishes into the dishwasher. He picks up the remaining plates containing breakfast and places them on the dining table. He opens the refrigerator and takes out the orange juice and places it on the table. Wearing an apron with a rag draped over his left shoulder, he rubs his hands together with glee as he admires his table settings.

"Girls! Breakfast!" he yells.

A few seconds later, his daughters march into the kitchen in the pajamas, with their faces and demeanor devoid of motivation or enthusiasm. They take their places by the dining room table, trying to get comfortable in their wooden chairs.

"Good morning!" Coop greets with his voice filled with ebullience but receives no response.

"I _said_ good morning." He repeats, this time less enthused.

"Good morn…" Paisley begins to respond but Paris covers her mouth and the rest of her greeting is muffled.

"So I take it you guys are giving me the silent treatment, huh?" Coop asks as he folds his arms.

The only sound breaking the silence in the kitchen are the utensils scraping the plates as the girls eat their breakfast.

"I see." Coop deduces as he grabs a stool and sits down across from the girls.

"Now, you girls brought this on yourselves. It's not my fault you guys are grounded." Coop says. The girls continue to eat, barely lifting their eyes from their plate.

"If you guys pleaded your case to me, I would have considered letting you guys go to Wyatt and Chris' house today but since you're giving me the silent treatment…" Coop says as he gets up from his stool and begins to walk away when his daughters' voices overlap each other, trying to talk to him. Coop's smile widens with his back turned towards his girls. He turns around and walks closer.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Coop smiles.

"Dad, it's not fair. Mom didn't have to ground us. We didn't do anything wrong." Tricia pleads.

"How? You guys left us, went across town to your cousin's house without telling anyone. What would we have done if something happened to you guys?" Coop asks.

"Nothing would've happened." Paris says defensively.

"What did you guys go to the house to do?" Coop asks.

The girls fall silent once more.

"And therein lays the problem." Coop says as he folds his arms, "Either you spill or we are all staying in here and watching home videos."

The girls groan in disappointment.

"We went over to see the spirit board and the Book." Paisley caves.

"PAISLEY!" Tricia and Paris shout at their sister in surprise.

"What? We did!" Paisley defends herself.

"Why did you guys want to see it?" Coop asks.

"We were bored, wanted to do something fun so Chris and Wyatt offered to show us the Book but when we went to their house, the Book was missing. The only thing there was the spirit board. We tried to use the spirit board but it wasn't working and then mom came upstairs and found us." Paisley explains in length. Paris and Tricia look at their sister and then their father nervously.

Coop's eyes shift from Paisley and then Paris and Tricia.

"Is that all that happened last night?" Coop asks suspiciously.

"Yes." Paris says, finally conceding.

"We didn't tell you because we knew how strict you and mom are on the whole magic issue thing so we decided to keep it quiet." Tricia adds.

"Are you sure?" Coop asks once more.

All three girls nod in response.

"Why didn't you just say that last night when your mom was asking?" Coop asks.

"We were in enough trouble, didn't want to make it worse." Tricia answers.

"So can we go there today? Please?" Paris pleads.

"You guys are grounded…" Coop notes.

"But we're supposed to be leaving tomorrow. We might not see our cousins again for God knows how long. Do you want us to spend our last day here on punishment?" Tricia asks.

"You should've thought about it before you guys disappeared yesterday." Coop answers.

"Please, daddy? Just for a few hours. We'll be good." Paris begs.

"And no attitude or talking back." Tricia adds.

Coop looks at his girls. Tricia had the blue eyes that saw right through him and pierced his soul. He shifted his gaze to Paris whose big, soft brown eyes were just as captivating; if not hypnotic. He turned to his youngest, Paisley and noticed her lower lip quivering. Paisley's greatest power against her father was her lower lip combined with the simple fact that she was the baby of the family. Those two traits alone were a dangerous combination but with the three sisters combined was a force to be reckoned with; a miniature power of three. Unable to deny his children happiness, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Fine. You can go." Coop finally caves as the room is filled with cheer and glee, "Your cousins are on their way over as we speak anyway."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, daddy!" Paris, Paisley and Tricia's voice can be heard saying over and over again as they rush to hug their father. Coop wraps his arms around his daughters and kisses them on their forehead.

"Just don't do anything that will get you guys in trouble and you guys already know what that is. You're already on thin ice as it is." Coop says.

"We won't, dad! We'll go and get ready!" Paris says as she runs out of the kitchen. Paisley and Tricia follow suit, leaving Coop standing in the kitchen grinning from ear to ear. He knew that this will be an argument for the books when Phoebe found out but it was an argument he knew he was going to lose, but seeing the smiles on his daughters' faces made it worth it.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Chris, hurry up! We're going to be late!" Melinda screams as Chris tosses his clothes around his room in search for something.

"Where did I put it?" Chris asks furiously as he rummages through his entire chest. A knock is heard on the door.

"Give me a minute! I'll be there in a little bit!" Chris yells.

"No, Chris. It's me." Leo's soft voice is heard on the other side of the door, "Can I come in?"

"I don't have time right now, dad." Chris responds. Leo opens the door and slowly walks in.

"What are you looking for?" Leo asks.

"Looking for Alaska." Chris answers.

"Huh?" Leo asks, confused.

"Looking for Alaska." Chris repeats.

"Alaska is a state next to Canada, above the 48." Leo says, still confused.

"No, dad. Not Alaska the state. Alaska the book. _Looking for Alaska_ by John Green." Chris corrects his dad as he continues to look for his book.

"Oh." Leo laughs sheepishly, "Well, if you boys cleaned your room often like I tell you to, maybe you'll have an easier time finding things."

"Dad, no offense but I am really not in the mood nor do I have time for one of your anecdotes right now." Chris says as he stops searching and his eyes begin to sweep the room.

"I just wanted to talk to you about yesterday but I guess I can talk to you later." Leo says as he begins to walk out of the room, "Oh, and there's a book on the dining room table. Might be your book."

Chris turns to face Leo, "Seriously, dad?"

"Sorry." Leo apologizes as Chris runs past him and runs out of the room. Leo follows him out.

Running down the stairs and into the dining room, Chris sees a book on the table and picks it up. He screams with joy once he picks it up and reads the title.

"Thanks, dad!" Chris shouts as Leo walks around the corner. Leo smiles and nods. Chris runs to the front door and opens it. He sees Mellie standing at the bottom of the stairs waving for him to come outside. Chris turns back and walks towards his dad.

"Dad, I have a question." He says

"What is it?" Leo asks.

Chris takes a deep breath and looks down at his feet. Nervously, he looks back up at his father, "Never mind. I'll talk to you later."

"Are you sure?" Leo presses.

"Yeah. I'll see you later." Chris says as he runs through the front door and slams the door shut.

Leo's smile disappears and a look of worry takes its place. He walks to the front door and locks the door. He walks back to the kitchen and takes his keys from the hook and walks out the back door, with the sound of the lock heard latching in place.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Seconds turn to minutes, minutes rapidly turn into hours and before she knew it, it was lunch time. Piper looked around her desk and saw that the mountain of paperwork she made her mission to diminish failed. She was somehow looking forward to the lunch dinner with her sisters, even though it had been a long time since she had one. It might be awkward, but it's the lunch that will break the proverbial ice, so to speak.

She begins to clean up and get ready to leave her office when she hears a knock on the door. She looks up suspiciously but her voice welcomes the guest into her office without dissent.

An African American man in his early 50's, balding with a mustache , sharply dressed in his suit walks into the office.

"Hello, Mrs. Halliwell." The man greets Piper as he extends his hand for a handshake. Piper shakes his hand.

"Hello, mister?" Piper asks as she extends her hand towards the chair, gesturing him to sit down.

"St. James. Jeffrey St. James." He introduces as he sits down, "I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time."

"No, not at all." Piper lies as she sits down as well, "What brings you here? How may I help you?"

"I was at your sister's banquet yesterday. You know, celebrating her being honored with a PhD?"

"Yes, I am aware of it." Piper replies dryly.

"Well, I have had my eye on this place for a while, and I have a proposition for you, financially." He begins, "I…"

"I'm sorry, Mr. St. James?" Piper cuts him off, "I just got this restaurant started a few years ago, this has been my dream for as long as I can remember and I am in no position or in state of mind to sell it."

Jeffrey begins to laugh and Piper stares at him, perplexed.

"No, Mrs. Halliwell. I am not coming to you to sell." He says to Piper who breathes a sigh of relief, "I want to invest in this business. You've got the Midas touch and everything you touch seems to turn into gold."

"You're over-exaggerating." Piper blushes.

"No, I'm serious. Your club, P3 has been successful for over almost seventeen ye.."

"Eighteen years." Piper corrects.

"Eighteen years now. Your restaurant started off shaky but you somehow managed to pull it up and now it is ranked one of the best cuisine places in San Francisco. I want to invest and help you expand this business venture of yours." Jeffrey states.

"How would you want to help expand this?" Piper asks.

"Open up a chain of Halliwell restaurants. From there, whatever your signature meal is will be made and sold in supermarkets, and then maybe down the line, you'll have your own television show." Jeffrey declares as Piper's eyes widen.

"Yes, Mrs. Halliwell. I know potential when I see it, and you definitely have it. Just need to nurture it and make it grow." Jeffrey says. Piper's opens her mouth but no words come out.

"I take your speechless look as a yes?"

Piper does not answer.

"Take time and think about it. Here's my card." He says as he stands up, takes out a card from his wallet and places it on her desk, "Call me whenever you're ready. I'm in town for three weeks. No rush."

He turns around walks out the door. He closes the door gently behind him. Piper scoffs in excitement with her eyes still widened in surprise.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Mellie stood on the grassy football field with the air filled with grunts, yelling and occasional blowing of the whistle while she cheered for her brother. Wyatt is wearing a green helmet with a trident marked on the side. He dons a green and gold jersey with white pants and black and gold cleats. Chris sits on the bleachers a few feet away from Mellie, reading his book. Occasionally, he lifts his eyes to watch Wyatt run the ball down the field and cheers whenever Mellie's voice gets louder.

"LET'S GO WYATT!" Mellie cheers loudly as Wyatt huddles with the team, "Chris, are you watching this?!"

"Yeah, I'm watching." Chris says unenthused as he barely averts his gaze from his book.

Mellie walks up to Chris and snatches his book from his hands.

"Hey, give me!" Chris shouts.

"We came here to support Wyatt and you're sitting on the bleachers, not even paying attention to what he's doing. He needs us, Chris. Both me and you."

"Mel, give me my book back."

"I will if you at least watch Wyatt run just one play." Mellie negotiates. Chris looks at his little sister furiously and then finally relents.

"Fine."

With a victorious smile, Mellie hands Chris' book back to him and runs back on to the sidelines, clapping and shouting cheerfully. Chris watches his brother running drills, catching and running the ball with ease and Chris' smiles impressively.

A football spinning in the air smacks Chris across his face, leaving the left side of his face throbbing. He looks down and picks up the football as he searches for the owner of the football. A group of older teens approach him, all three of them with smiles on their faces.

"Can we have the ball back? It's ours." One of them asks.

"No problem," Chris replies as he hands the ball back to him, "You guys did hit me in the face though."

"It's football, it happens." Another one of the boys retorts.

"Not if I am sitting on the sidelines, not playing in the game." Chris says as he stands up.

"Look, if you're expecting apologies then you're asking the wrong people." The first guy says as he laughs and begins to walk away. His posse follows him.

"Of course not, it must be too much for you guys to formulate the words ' _I am sorry_ '. It's just three simple words; two if you actually want to be quick and get it out of the way." Chris shouts sarcastically.

The three boys turn around and face him.

"What are you trying to say? Are you calling me stupid?" The leader of the guys asks.

"Take that comment any way you want. It's up to you." Chris says with a smile.

"Come on, Brian. Let's go." One of the guys says as he tries to diffuse the tension.

"No. He's feeling froggy. Let's see if he will leap." Brian says as he walks closer to Chris, "You want your apology? Well, here you go."

Brian jerks his head forward and head butts Chris in the face. A crack, a loud wince and a collective sound of gasping can be heard as Chris stumbles back and falls on the bleachers. He removes his hand from his face and reveals the bloody mess pouring out of his nose. Chris stands up and walks towards Brian. He swings and misses as he loses his footing and stumbles. Brian grabs him by his shirt and with a closed fist, swings towards Chris' face. Chris closes his eyes and flinches as an echo of a freeze is sounded through the park.

He opens his eyes and sees the closed fist hovering about three inches away from his face. He looks around and sees the other two boys frozen behind Brian, eyes wide open, fists in the air cheering him on. He looks towards the sidelines and sees Melinda with her palms open, walking towards him.

"Mel, what did you do?" Chris asks.

"I couldn't let them beat you up, Chris!" Mellie says as she tries to pry Chris from Brian's grasp.

"You know you're not supposed to use your powers, Mel!"

"I didn't mean to, it just happened." Mellie defends herself. Wyatt runs towards his siblings, sweating, dirty and out of breath.

"Can you unfreeze them before anyone sees? You froze the entire football field. Someone is bound to come around."

"What's going on?" he asks.

"Isn't it obvious?" Chris jokes, "I'm making new friends."

"Mellie, you got to unfreeze them." Chris pleads.

"What about him?" Mellie asks, pointing to Brian, "He's about to punch you in the face."

"I'll figure out a way around it. Just hurry." Chris states.

"Wait! I got to go back to the stadium before you unfreeze." Wyatt says as he begins to run back to the field. He stands between two frozen players.

"Ok, I'm good!" he shouts.

Mellie looks at Chris who nods at his sister, giving her permission to unfreeze. With an exasperated sigh, she waves her hands and the whole stadium unfreezes. Chris moves his head and the punch narrowly misses his head. Chris breaks free and takes a few steps backwards.

"Hey!" a female voice can be heard in the distance, "Leave him alone!"

The guys turn around and see a teenaged girl, about 16 years old running towards them. She had golden tanned skin, with dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail and big brown eyes. She runs towards the commotion and stands between the two.

"This has nothing to do with you! Mind your business!" Brian shouts.

"How about you go and pick on someone your own size and age, Brian? Or do you need me to remind you of what happened last year at the pep rally again?" she says defensively.

"You wouldn't dare." Brian scowls.

"Try me." She stands her ground.

Brian's eyes shift from Chris to the young woman, back and forth until he relents.

"This isn't over." He vows.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure it is." She declares as she waves at them, dismissively.

Brian walks away with his friends and Chris takes a seat. Mellie sits next to him.

"Are you okay?" the girl asks, sitting on the opposite side of Chris.

"Besides the bloody nose, I'm just peachy." Chris answers in a nasal tone, holding his nose.

"Here, tilt your head back." She says as she rummages through her backpack. She pulls out a blue washrag. She moves Chris' hand and covers his nose with it.

"Hold this until the bleeding stops. I wish we had some ice." She states.

"They have a cooler filled with ice and water. I can go grab some!" Mellie says as she stands up.

"That will be great." The young lady says with a smile as she watches Mellie run away.

"So what was all that about?" she asks.

"I don't want to talk about it." Chris answers.

"Fine, I'm not going to press it. Does your nose feel broken?"

"I don't doubt it, but I'll be fine." Chris responds.

The girl looks behind the bleachers and picks up Chris' book.

"Looking for Alaska?"

"Yeah, great read." Chris comments.

"I guess."

"What do you know about this book?" Chris asks.

"You'd be surprised. Don't make assumptions. Appearances can be deceiving." She says.

"I'll take that as a no. I'm pretty good at reading people." Chris notes.

"Is that right?" she asks, "What do you read about me?"

Chris lowers his head and stares into her brown eyes. He opens his mouth to say something but his words are stuck in his throat. The girl smiles softly.

"That's what I thought. You know nothing, Jon Snow."

"Is that supposed to be a subtle _Game of Thrones_ reference?" Chris asks.

The girl doesn't provide an answer. Mellie returns with a cup of ice.

"Here!" Mellie says out of breath. The girl pulls out another blue rag and places the ice on top and wraps the rag. She hands it to Chris, who is still staring her mesmerized.

"Hello? Earth to Chris?!" Mellie calls. Chris breaks out of his trance and looks at his sister.

The girl laughs and stands up. She puts on her backpack.

"Get well soon, Chris." She says as she begins to walk away.

"Wait, what's your name?" Chris asks, with his voice muffled by the ice filled towel.

The girl stops and looks back at Chris with a smile. She turns to walk away and then shouts her name out loud for him to hear.

"Bianca!"

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Across town at the Embarcadero, the sisters sit outside of a restaurant underneath an umbrella laughing and chatting. Phoebe, Piper and Paige sitting together like the good old days, just gossiping, and trading the secrets that had been sworn to them but were obviously not off limits to their sisters.

"I was so mad but the look that Junior gave me kind of made me feel bad and laugh about it." Paige says through her laughter.

"What did you do about the girls?" Piper asks.

"What can I do? They made the mess; they helped me clean it up. Henry was furious and Junior kept finding flour in all the wrong places for days." Paige laughs as she takes a sip of her smoothie.

"At least your children listen to you." Phoebe begins, "My girls are so wrapped up in technology, they don't even make an effort to have real social interactions with people."

"They seemed pretty sociable yesterday with Wyatt and Chris." Piper notes.

"Yeah, that took us all by surprise but they're a handful. I don't remember us being this bad." Phoebe says.

"I wasn't bad. You and Prue were." Piper says as she eats a fry.

"That's a lie." Phoebe says.

"No, it's true. Prue was rebellious from 15 until the whole boyfriend attacking her thing when she was about 17 turning 18. You were just rebellious from when you were 11 up until you were 30."

Paige laughs out loud and Piper and Phoebe join her. The laughter is cut short when Phoebe's phone begins to ring.

"Hello?" she answers, "Yes Elise, I'm still here. I don't know."

Piper and Paige stare at each other and then at Phoebe.

"I didn't say that. I can't make any promises. Sure. I'll stop by before I leave. It's okay. I'll talk to you soon." Phoebe says as she hangs up.

"What was that all about?" Paige asks, still sipping on her smoothie.

"Elise is trying to convince me to stay. Says my job is still available if I want it." Phoebe answers.

"Well, do you?" Piper asks.

"Yes? I don't know. I mean I love my job and touring but I kind of love living in London, touring Europe." Phoebe rants, "I mean, once you have had a taste of the European style of living, you don't really want to stop."

"Is it that good?" Paige asks.

"I have had no complaints so far. I feel like if I go back, I'm going to be stuck in a rut; stuck in the same cycle I was stuck in before I left."

"Well, I guess it's a common feeling to have nowadays." Piper comments.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asks.

"An investor made me an offer I can't really refuse. He offered to invest in my restaurant, help me build another one and sell my food in supermarkets and create a brand out of my name." Piper explains.

"Like Martha Stewart?" Paige laughs. Piper shoots Paige an angry look.

"Come on, that was funny!" Paige snickers.

"It was." Phoebe adds as she laughs out loud.

"Oh come on, Piper! Loosen up!" Paige adds.

"Ok, ok. So what are you going to do?" Phoebe asks.

"I don't know yet. I have to ask Leo and see what he thinks." Piper responds.

"Leo? Do you think he will object?" Phoebe asks.

"No, we're business partners so maybe he'll raise good points that I may not have thought of. You know how he is." Piper answers.

"True." Paige notes.

"Hey, how's Billie doing and Laura doing? I thought they were going to be there at the banquet yesterday?" Phoebe asks.

"Something happened with Jerry and their company in New York and Billie had to fly out to help him…" Paige replies.

"Billie and Jerry are still together?" Phoebe asks in surprise.

"Mhm." Piper responds.

"Wow, good for them."

"I don't know about Laura. We see her once in a blue moon." Piper adds.

"I called her yesterday but she didn't pick up. I wanted to see her." Phoebe states.

"Well, I'm sure she's fine." Piper says with her mouth filled with fries.

"So what time are you scheduled to fly out tomorrow?" Piper asks.

"9:45 am."

"Damn, that early? You sure you don't want me to orb you?' Paige offers.

"No, no, the less magic we use, the better off we will be." Phoebe says, declining Paige's offer.

"Well, it's not like we've got a choice anyway. The demons seem to have gone into hiding or something." Piper says.

"And that's a bad thing?" Phoebe asks.

"No, it's not but it's out of character for creatures that thrive on human misery. Whenever evil goes radio silent, it is never a good sign for us." Paige comments.

"I kind of miss vanquishing those pesky little demons." Piper comments.

Paige and Phoebe look at her with eyes widened and mouths dropped open.

"What?" Piper asks with a smile.

"You of all people? The one who craved a normal life for God knows how long, misses the demons?" Phoebe asks.

"I just meant that I miss the occasional vanquish. It added some variety into the mundane lives we lived, that's all."

"Be careful what you wish for." Paige says in a singsong tone.

"Well, we have been good for the last few years so might as well enjoy it while it lasts." Piper states.

"Speaking of, enjoying it while it lasts; what do you have planned for the rest of the day?" Phoebe asks.

"I was going to go back to work." Piper replies.

"I have nothing to do. Why?" Paige asks.

"Want to go to shopping and then to the spa? Seeing as how it's my final hours here in San Francisco, might as well treat myself and my sisters to a day of relaxation." Phoebe suggests.

"I love you." Paige says softly to Phoebe, who rolls her eyes.

"Well, I guess I'm cancelling my afternoon appointments." Piper declares as she picks up her phone and starts dialing numbers. Paige tries to hide her excitement as she takes a long sip from her smoothie.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Chris, Wyatt and Mellie walk into the Manor, with Chris still holding the ice filled towel to his nose. Wyatt closes the manor's door behind him as he runs to catch up to his siblings.

"Stop being stubborn, Chris and let me heal your nose." Wyatt offers.

"No! No magic!" Chris says, declining his brother's offer.

"For what we are about to do, you would think you would want all bones in your body in tact in order to initiate Operation Sierra Lima but you're too stubborn to do anything." Wyatt says trying to convince his brother but apparently his words fall on deaf ears.

"My point exactly. We're about to use magic to do something we aren't supposed to do. This is an unnecessary use of magic." Chris spouts, as Wyatt folds his arms out of frustration.

"Well, you know dad and mom are going to want to know why and how your nose got broken, and I'm pretty sure Mellie will be more than happy to fill them in." Wyatt argues.

Chris stops at the base of the stairs and turns to face his siblings and sighs.

"Will it hurt?" Chris asks, wincing in pain from the thought of the bones sealing back into place.

"It shouldn't." Wyatt says as he motions for Chris to move the towel. After a brief hesitation, Chris moves the towel out of the way and reveals his black and blue swollen nose. Wyatt winces as he raises his palm and hovers it over Chris' face.

"It's not as bad as it looks." Chris says as the golden glow emanates from Wyatt's hands and shines upon his face.

The bright golden light causes Chris to shut his eyes as he feels a tingle in his nostrils. He feels the warmth of the healing touch on his face, and the bright light still pierces his closed eyelids. In an instant, everything becomes dark and the warm feeling leaves his face. Chris slowly opens his eyes and scrunches up his nose. He walks to the mirror in the foyer and looks at his face.

"Piece of cake…" Wyatt says proudly standing behind his brother, admiring his work. Chris rolls his eyes.

"Ok, you guys need to go shower and get ready, the guys should be here any minute." Mellie says as she rushes her brothers up the stairs.

"Alright, alright. We're going!" Wyatt whines as he walks up the stairs with Chris. Mellie hears car doors slam shut and muffled voices getting louder outside the door. The doorbell rings and Mellie sprints across the foyer and opens the door.

Junior, Tricia, Paris, Paisley, Gabby and Penny stand before her.

"Welcome to Halliwell manor." She says in a British accent as she steps aside. Her cousins march in past her. She looks outside and sees Coop in a car, waving at her. She waves back and closes the door behind her.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The Charmed children sit in the attic of the Halliwell Manor, in a straight line. Wyatt and Chris, the only ones standing are pacing back and forth. The cousins sit on the floor with their legs folded, eyes closed and regulating their breathing.

"In order to initiate this operation, we have to understand that the main mission is saving the innocent." Chris begins, "That is the number one priority. In order to do that, we need you to be able to tap into your powers and control them."

"We may not know what abilities you possess yet, but that is the point of this whole exercise." Wyatt adds as he continues pacing, "We need to know which powers will be beneficial to our mission. You may not be able to control them, and that's ok; but we need to gain control of them actively even if it is just temporary."

"Just like everyone in this attic, we have had moments where we have used our powers because we were angry…" Chris continues.

"Scared…" Wyatt adds.

"Confused, sad or happy…" Chris says as he takes a step with every word he utters.

"So…" Wyatt says as he stops pacing, facing Henry Jr. "You!"

Junior gasps.

"What powers do you know you have?" Wyatt asks.

"Well I know that can create things out of thin air and orbs things with my mind like my mom." Junior says.

"That, my dear friend…is the power of illusion by proxy of the power of projection and telekinesis. You may have the power to conjure things too. I don't know, we'll see." Chris explains.

"Cool!" Junior exclaims.

Wyatt walks to Penny and Gabby, "And you?"

"I have the power to create shields and deflect things…" Penny states.

"I don't know what power I have." Gabby states as she folds her arms.

"You don't know what powers you have?" Wyatt asks with his tone of voice drenched with disbelief.

"Your whole life, you've never had a power outburst?" Chris asks.

"Not that I can recall." Gabby answers.

"What about the time when you turned froze the cat last summer?" Junior asks.

"Froze your cat?" Tricia asks.

"Yeah, we were playing in the yard running through the sprinklers and she was chasing the cat." Penny explains, "She couldn't catch it and she got frustrated so she literally trapped the cat in a block of ice."

"Really?" Paris asks intrigued.

"Well, ice manipulation falls under Cryokinesis. Cool power." Chris deduces, "Next!"

Wyatt and Chris walk towards the three sisters.

"From what you told us yesterday, I'm assuming Tricia has the power to move things with her mind, Paris can manipulate time and Paisley is an empath? Telepath?" Wyatt concludes.

"I have dreams of the past and future too!" Paisley adds.

"Really?" Wyatt asks, as he turns to his brother, "What do you think? Premonitions?"

"A form of visions, but I read that is incorrectly labeled. It's really the power of clairvoyance." Chris answers.

"Good to know." Wyatt states, "And you, Mellie we know you can freeze time so we don't need to find out what you can do."

"So now that we have an idea of what you all can do, we just have to see how well you can call on your power and control it."

"How?" Tricia asks.

"Leave it to me." Wyatt smiles. With a wave of his hand, he conjures a demon, standing idly by in the attic.

His cousins' eyes widen at Wyatt and compliment him on how he uses his powers with ease.

"Ok, so now what?" Mellie asks.

"You all need to focus on using your power to attack this projection. It will adjust its defenses to your level of offensive powers. Like so…" Wyatt explains as he points to Chris.

Chris takes center stage and raises his hand. With a wave of his fingers, Chris telekinetically moves the projection towards himself and with a little bit of force, he flings his arm; sending the projection flying across the room. All eyes follow the projection as they watch it freeze in mid-air. Everybody turns around and sees Mellie's arms extended with her palms open in the air.

Wyatt smiles and Chris nods at their sister, impressed. Mellie waves her hand and the demonic projection unfreezes and Wyatt guides the projection into landing quietly.

"How do we learn to do that?" Paisley asks.

"You have to learn to master your gift first, and then you must learn to work like a team." Wyatt states.

"But for now, figuring out your powers and gaining control is the objective now." Chris states.

"Junior?" Wyatt calls as Junior runs out and stand in front of the crowd, "You're up."

"What should I do?" Junior asks.

"Close your eyes." Chris advises as he walks closer, "Your power is to conjure and project things. So see it with your mind's eye and will it into reality."

Junior closes his eyes. The room falls silent as everybody stares at him, waiting for something to happen. After a few minutes, feeling like a few hours drags by, Junior opens his eyes.

"I can't do it!" he yelps out of frustration.

"Calm your mind." Chris says in a soothing voice. "Close your eyes."

Junior stares at Chris angrily.

"Trust me." Chris says with a smile.

Junior sighs and closes his eyes once more.

"Picture what you want to do to the projection. Do you see it?" Chris whispers.

"Yes."

"Now pretend that what you see is a daydream. A daydream is one step closer to reality from your imagination. What do you see?" Chris asks.

Junior provides him with no answer.

"At this moment in time, do you feel something building inside you? Kind of like the feeling you get when you're running and you are tired but you know you have to keep going because you're almost at the finish line…" Chris continues.

"Really?" Paris whispers to Gabby.

"Shhh!" Wyatt scolds.

"You feel that feeling of elation building inside you as you get closer to the finish line, don't you?" Chris asks to which Junior nods his head in response.

"How close are you?" Chris asks.

"I'm almost there."

"Do you see the finish line?"

"Yeah. I see it! I see it!"

"Let go! When you cross the finish line, let go and let everything out!" Chris encourages.

Junior squints his eyes harder and clenches his fist as a blue and white light shoots from his chest and slams into the projection, causing it to explode. The explosion rips a hole into the side of the Manor.

"I did it! I did it!" he opens his eyes as he shouts with glee. He sees the look of shock on everybody's face and then sees the hole in the building.

"What did I do?" he asks nervously.

"You did good." Wyatt says as he pats him on the back, sounding impressed, "That was very good."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Wyatt and Chris walk back and forth, directing and guiding their fellow witches into honing their gifts. Tricia moves the demon towards Paris who with a wave of her hand suspends the demon in mid-air. Wyatt's projection hurls energy balls at the cousins and Penny's shield raises, deflecting the energy balls back at him. He absorbs the powers and explodes.

The group cheers with jubilee and joy.

"Good job, everyone!" Chris compliments them, "Now here comes the hard part."

"Do exactly what we say and we should be fine." Wyatt declares.

"We're ready. What do we have to do?" Tricia asks.

"Penny and Paisley, you're first." Chris calls to them. They walk towards the brothers.

"Penny, you have the power of the shield, and Paisley is an empath. Penny and Wyatt are going to combine their ability to sense magic beings to Paisley's empathic gift. Penny and Wyatt, you've got to raise your shield to protect yourselves from being detected, while Paisley scans the area. Laylah may be protected magically but her captor will not think to block her emotions. I don't even think it's possible." Chris explains.

"You think that's going to work?" Tricia asks.

"I don't see why it shouldn't." Chris answers.

Penny takes a deep breath as she looks at Wyatt, who gives her a reassuring smile. She nods and looks at Paisley, who seems ready and eager to go. Paisley and Penny hold hands with Wyatt in the middle. They close their eyes as they work on their concentration. A blue shield rises from Wyatt and Penny independently. They both get bigger and bigger until it combines and sweeps across the room. The shield exits the Manor as it widens its reach.

Chris and the remainder of the Charmed children stand and wait patiently as they stare at the three people in front of them put their magic to work.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In the cold dark dungeon, Laylah lies on her concrete slab; her eyes open and staring into complete abyss. Her faith and hope in the greater Good exits her psyche with every breath she exhales. In the beginning of her imprisonment, she used to conjure up images of daring rescues by powerful witches or escape plans executed to perfection. Then as time went by, her hope in her charges waned and her powers went along with that.

She had a cycle of events set in her mind, only to maintain her sanity and keep track of how much time had passed. Every time she felt a chill in the room, she knew it was Sebastian's ghost roaming the dungeons making rounds to report to Abaddon. Sebastian came down to the dungeon twice a day, at the same time and when she decided to argue with him one day, his words were able to help her deduce when the sun rose and when the sun set.

But then the frequent visits of Sebastian's rounds became far, few and in between. She began to lose track of the days of the week, which led to her losing track of what month she was in, and then the years. For all she knows, only a year went by or maybe a decade. At this point, it didn't matter. What made things worse was the images she saw in the darkness. Sometimes she was certain she saw a flicker of light in the darkness, sometimes she was not sure if it was her imagination.

At this point in time, she couldn't care less. She knew she had hit rock bottom. Once she had prayed for a sign of hope; now all she could do was pray an Angel of Death will come visit her in her dungeon, and his exit will provide her the rescue she had long ago wished for but never came.

In the darkness, a blue light shone in the darkness. It swept the dungeon so quick; it was as if it was imaginary. Laylah sees the light but with almost no energy left in her body, she was reluctant to investigate.

" _Maybe it was my imagination. It wouldn't be the first time my mind played tricks on me._ " Laylah's thoughts pondered.

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. The blue light flickers in her dungeon once more but this time, it lingers longer than before.

"Ok, I know I saw that." Laylah mutters to herself. She musters all the strength in her body and wills herself to sit up.

Her eyeballs sweep the darkness hoping to catch a glimpse of the blue shining beacon. After waiting for a few minutes, she begins to feel drained so she lowers her upper body back down to the concrete bed that had somehow become more comfortable to her as the days came and went.

As soon as she lies back down and closes her eyes, the blue light shines brightly in her dungeon for a longer period of time than before. She opens her eyes and squints her eyes quickly, trying to adjust her eyes to the light.

"Hello?" she calls out weakly but receives no answer.

The blue light sweeps the dungeon once more and then disappears in a flash.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Paisley, Wyatt and Penny's eyes open sharply as their blue shield hits them in their chest quickly. Chris leans closer to them awaiting for the answer.

"We found her." Paisley announces.

Chris smiles and looks at his cousins, "It's show time."

"How are we going to get in?" Tricia asks.

"We will walk in through the front door." Chris says confidently.

The rest of the cousins stand up from their seats and stand next to Chris.

"Um, before we do this, can we do something about _that_?" Wyatt points to the hole in the attic. Chris laughs nervously and stares at Junior.

"You think you're up for it?"

Junior smiles at his older cousin with more confidence than before, as he nods in response.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Abaddon's guards pace back and forth outside as the sun sets behind the magnificent Angel Island palace. A cluster of blue and white orbs appears on opposite sides of the palace. The orbs disappear and the children materialize in its place. Wyatt, Mellie and Junior appear on one side; Chris, Gabby and Paris on the other.

"Ok, Mellie." Wyatt whispers to his sister, "You think you got it from here?"

Mellie nods and waves her hands as the guards freeze in place. The cousins gather and walk around the guards. They stroll through the front door. Running and hiding behind pillars, the cousins inch their way closer and closer towards the throne room.

"Do you sense her anywhere?" Chris asks.

"She was downstairs in the dungeons." Paisley comments as she admires the throne room, "This is nice."

"Yeah, I'm surprised that this place is this nice for a demon." Chris notes.

"Hey!" a demon is heard in the distance. The cousins jump and hide behind a pillar. Chris waves his hand and the demon flies into a wall. Three more demons appear in the throne room.

"Tricia, Mellie, Junior and I will go downstairs to find Laylah. You've got this?" Wyatt asks Chris as Chris nods his response.

Wyatt grabs his cousins and orbs out of the throne room.

"Penny, this is where your shield comes in handy." Chris says to her.

"What do I do?" Paris asks, "I want to do something."

"Just wait on my signal. I'll let you know." Chris says as he emerges from his hiding spot with Penny.

"Now!" he commands. Penny raises her hands as she generates a force field, deflecting energy balls being thrown in their direction. Chris throws the demons left and right with ease as more of them come strolling in.

"There's too many of them!" Penny screams.

"What do we do?" Paisley asks.

"You stay back there, Pais!" Penny commands.

Paris runs and joins Chris and Penny in their force field.

"What are you doing?!" Chris yells.

"Helping!" Paris answers. Paris screams and closes her eyes. With all her might, she emits a wave and all the energy balls slowdown in mid-air. The demons look at each other in confusion.

"You didn't aim for the demons too?" Penny asks her.

"Well, this is my first time using my powers under pressure, excuse me!" Paris defends herself.

Chris groans as he directs the energy balls towards the demons, who engulf in flames and explode on sight.

"That was so cool!" Paris exclaims.

"You could've gotten yourself killed! There's nothing cool about that!" Chris screams at her.

"This isn't the time for that. Let's find the others and get out of here before more demons show up." Gabby says trying to quell the heated argument.

"Right…" Chris says as he grabs Paris and Paisley as they orb out. Gabby and Penny follow suit.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The shower of blue and white orbs breaks the pure darkness in the dungeon. The lights disappear and all that remains is darkness.

"I can't see anything." Junior can be heard complaining.

"Well, you're not the only one." Mellie notes.

"Is there anything you can do, Wyatt?" Tricia asks.

A golden light materializes in the air and hovers above the foursome.

"That's more I like it." Tricia smiles.

"You have to show me how to do that." Junior says in amazement.

"Later. Right now, we have to find Laylah." Wyatt says as he moves down the dark dungeon. The golden lights follow them as they walk along the path, lighting their way as they go.

"How will we know which one is her dungeon?" Tricia asks.

"I can sense her right now. It's faint but we're almost there." Wyatt answers.

After walking down a long corridor for what seems like an eternity, Wyatt stops abruptly.

"What?" Tricia asks him, looking around.

Wyatt turns and faces a dark hole in the wall. He moves the golden orbs towards the cave and sees a woman lying on the concrete slab.

Tricia gasps and Mellie walks closer trying to get a closer look but Tricia holds her back.

"Is that her?" Mellie asks.

"Yeah." Wyatt nods. Wyatt walks towards the cave but he is jolted backwards. He flies into the rocks and falls down to the ground. Tricia, Mellie and Junior run to Wyatt.

"Wyatt?!" Tricia calls, "Wake up!"

"What do we do?" Mellie asks.

As if on cue, Chris orbs in with Paris and Paisley, and the twins join them shortly after.

Chris looks around and sees his older brother unconscious, leaning against the wall.

"What happened?" he asks.

"There is some kind of protection on the cave." Mellie answers pointing to the hole in which Laylah lays.

"Is that Laylah?" Chris asks.

"Yeah." Junior answers.

"What do we do now?" Paris asks.

"We do not have a lot of time, there may be more demons coming." Chris explains. He turns to Junior.

"Junior, you have the power of summoning. You can summon her to you." Chris says.

"No, we didn't do that earlier today. All I did was create things." Junior panics.

"Well, now we are going to try summoning. We can't complete this mission without you, Junior." Chris says rapidly.

"You got this, Junior." Penny says to her little brother.

"We're right behind you." Gabby adds, cosigning her sister's words of encouragement.

Junior's worrisome smile disappears as he stands in front of the cave.

"Close your eyes and imagine her orbing from where she is to where we are standing now." Chris advises, "You can do it, Junior."

Junior closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"Feel the power rising. Building inside of you, the light is getting brighter and brighter…Junior?" Chris says softly, watching his cousin breathe in and out.

In an instant, orbs surround the cave and Laylah appears in front of Junior. Junior opens his eyes and gasps with excitement.

"It worked!" he screams with joy.

Laylah collapses onto the floor and Chris kneels on the ground, resting Laylah's head on his lap. With a weakened voice, Laylah slowly opens her eyes and with the remaining strength left in her body, finally utters, "Thank you."

Three demons shimmer into the dungeon, already armed with energy balls.

"Ok, it's time to go!" Tricia screams.

Gabby grabs Wyatt, Paisley and Junior and orbs out.

Chris holds Mellie's hand and orbs out with Laylah.

Penny holds hands with Tricia and Paris, standing in the middle of her cousins. The light in the dungeon conjured by Wyatt flickers. Penny orbs out of the dungeon, taking her cousins with her.

"Follow them!" one of the demon commands.

"What are you going to do?"

"Abaddon is going to need a full accounting." The demon replies.

The second and third demons shimmers out, leaving the first demon alone in the dungeon. The light conjured by Wyatt dies, plunging the dungeon in the familiar darkness from before.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Abaddon flashes into his throne room, as happy as he can be. He walks towards his chair when he sees scorch marks on the pillars and on the ground. The demon guard from before shimmers into the throne room.

"My lord!" he says in a panic.

"What happened here?" Abaddon asks him.

"Witches. They came for the prisoner." He informs him.

" _Which_ prisoner?!" Abaddon questions him, his tone becoming more serious.

"Your sister." He says as he lowers his head in shame.

The anger creeps upon Abaddon's face as the news sinks into his mind. He flashes out of the throne room and into the dark dungeon and walks to the cave that housed his sister. The demon shimmers in behind him. He waves his hand and the torch perched on the wall of the entrance lights up. Abaddon's fury grows when he sees the cave is empty.

"NOOOOOO!" he screams as he forms a fire ball and hurls it at the demon in anger, vanquishing him on impact.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper, Phoebe and Paige walk into the manor, carrying a lot of shopping bags. Their day was perfect, filled with fun activities, laughter and joy. Piper closes the door and walks into the foyer with her sisters.

"You think Leo is home?" Phoebe asks.

"No, he has a few more hours before leaves Rex to manage the club for the night." Piper answers.

"Why are the lights in the house on then?" Phoebe asks.

"That's a good question." Piper wonders.

"I was assuming the kids were home." Paige says.

"Why would you think that?" Piper asks.

"Well, Henry dropped my kids off with Coop and Coop was going to drop them off here when Wyatt came back from his tryouts." Paige explains.

"Why didn't I know this?!" Phoebe exclaims as she folds her arms.

"I don't know. I thought you knew." Paige answers.

Piper looks up the stairs and immediately groans.

"What?" Paige asks.

Piper storms up the stairs, leaving her sisters behind. Paige and Phoebe look at each other in confusion, and then they both have a moment of realization.

"Attic! Attic!" Phoebe screams as she runs after Piper, still carrying her shopping bags. Paige chases after Phoebe, stomping up the stairs.

The door to the attic swings open and the Charmed Ones enter. Looking around the room, Piper takes a deep breath as she tries to find an object out of place.

"It looks the same as it did last night, Piper." Paige tries to defend but Piper isn't hearing it.

"I don't know what it is but I have a feeling something is going on." Piper finally speaks.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asks.

"They all gathered here yesterday together, they go through the trouble of getting together and now they are missing together?" Piper questions, still walking and looking around the attic.

"Maybe they went out to hang out since it is the girls' last day here." Phoebe states.

"Nuh uh." Piper shakes her head, "I know my kids. Something's up. Where are they?"

As soon as the last word flees Piper's lips, a shower of blue and white lights shoots across the room. The orbs disappear and Gabby materializes with Junior, Paisley and an unconscious Wyatt. The sisters stand in shock, trying to process the situation unfolding before them.

"Gabby?" Paige calls out to her daughter. Gabby looks up at her mother with tears in her eyes.

"Wyatt?!" Piper says as she breaks the ranks and rushes to her son.

"He won't wake up." Gabby cries.

"What happened?!" Phoebe asks hysterically.

"Paige, he's not breathing." Piper says in a low tone, as the seriousness of the situation hits her. Paige runs to Wyatt and places her hands over Wyatt. The golden light flows from her fingers as they all wait anxiously.

"Gabby, where are the rest of your cousins?" Phoebe asks.

As if on cue, Chris and Mellie orb into the attic with Laylah crashing into the boxes in the corner. Piper turns around as soon as she hears the crash and Phoebe jumps up.

"What the hell is going on?!" Phoebe yells in confusion.

"Who the hell is that?!" Piper screams pointing to Laylah on the floor.

"Help me get her on the couch!" Chris strains as he struggles to carry Laylah. Piper and Phoebe help him carry the woman on to the couch.

"Chris, what the hell is going on?" Piper asks. Chris opens his mouth to answer when Penny, Paris and Tricia orb into the attic.

"Incoming!" Penny yells as the cousins run to take cover behind Piper and Phoebe.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Phoebe repeats, trying to understand the chaos surrounding them. In a split second, two demons shimmer into the attic already armed and start shooting towards the Charmed Ones.

Instinctively, Piper raises her hands and the energy balls explode in mid-air. She thrusts her hands and one of the demons explodes, leaving an echo of his screams. Phoebe shoots electricity from her palm; electrocuting the last demon until he ignites into flames and finally incinerating into dust.

Piper runs to Paige as she still continues to heal Wyatt.

"He's fine." Paige reassures her, quelling Piper's fears. Paige finishes healing Wyatt as he gasps and his eyes opens slowly.

His blurred vision becomes clear as he sees his Aunt Paige, his cousin Gabby and his sister Mellie watching him with relieved faces. The final face he sees is Piper's which causes him to jump up.

"What happened?" Wyatt asks as he begins to scan the room and sees Laylah on the couch in the corner of the attic.

"You tell us." Piper responds, with her arms folded. Paige and Chris help Wyatt stand up. Wyatt rubs his head as he groans in pain.

"I don't remember..." Wyatt lies as he rubs his head, wincing in pain.

The Charmed Ones' eyes shift from Wyatt to Gabby, who is standing next to her cousin.

"Gabby, you brought him back. What happened?!" Paige asks her.

As Gabby scans the room, her heart beats faster with her mother standing in front of her with her sisters standing on both sides, all eyes on her.

END OF EPISODE

Guest Starring:

Ivan Sergei as Henry

Victor Webster as Coop

Geoff Stults as Sebastian

Sarah Jane Morris as Laylah

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Junior

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

Isabela Moner as Bianca

Hal Ozsan as Abaddon

Jeffery Wright as Jeffrey St. James


	3. 10x03: Adventures in Babysitting

_**Author's Note:**_

 _ **Due to the weather conditions in the past few weeks, plus my heavy work load, I have not had the chance to post the chapters as regularly as I wanted. I apologize for the delay. Also, due to there being an abundance of characters I have to write for, the episodes are a bit longer than I originally planned. If you think it is too much for one episode/chapter, please let me know and I'll try my best to cut back the length of an episode for your reading pleasure. Thank you and hope you enjoy!**_

 **10x03: Adventures in Babysitting**

Gabrielle Rose Mitchell is a perfectionist. She always took pride in everything she did because in her mind, it was a representation of herself. At the tender age of ten, she bore the whole world on her shoulders and she did so with ease. She knew she was the oldest of her siblings and she wore that title well. She had the perfect grades and she made sure she set the example for the rest of her siblings to follow.

She walked the fine line and made sure she never broke any rules nor disobeyed any person who was in any position of authority. She knew she was special and with the added responsibility of being a whitelighter-witch; that alone gave her a special sense of purpose in her life. She never knew why or how but she never struggled with her powers. Her twin sister always struggled with gaining control of her powers whenever they manifested but Gabby was different. She always had full control of hers and was eager to show her parents how well she was able to execute the full use of her gift.

That is why she was confused when her mother came home one day and told her she was not to use her magic unless it was absolutely necessary, which turned to be basically never. With many questions burning through her mind, she buried them deep in her psyche and from that moment on, she never practiced magic again. She suppressed her magic and never spoke a word about it again.

As she stood in the attic of the Halliwell Manor, her heart raced faster than she has ever experienced. She has never gotten herself into trouble before so to see her aunts Piper and Phoebe glare daggers at her accompanied with her mother's angry stare paralyzed her with fear.

"Well?!" Piper asks, arms folded and still awaiting an answer.

Gabby's throat immediately went dry, with her words caught in her throat. The words she was capable of forming came out in a stutter.

"Aunt Paige, can you come and heal her please?!" Chris asks, yelling across from the attic looking at Laylah.

"Who is she?!" Piper asks as she walks towards Laylah with her sisters.

Gabby breathes a sigh of relief and walks silently behind the crowd of people, now gathered around Chris and Laylah. Paige kneels besides Laylah and places her hands over Laylah as the healing touch emanates from her hands. She moves her hands up and down her body, making sure she didn't miss any injures this stranger may have suffered.

"I'm still waiting for an explanation!" Phoebe shouts.

"She's not hurt." Paige says as she stops healing, "She is just drained and exhausted. She needs to rest."

"Is anybody going to answer my question or are we going to have to cast a truth spell to fish it out of you?!" Piper threatens, getting impatient.

"That's Laylah…" Paisley finally answers the question that had been on The Charmed Ones' minds for the past few minutes.

"Who the hell is Laylah?" Paige asks.

"We don't know." Tricia answers.

"So you guys risked your lives to save a stranger you guys don't know?" Piper asks.

"Isn't that how saving innocents work? All innocents are usually strangers until you save them? You save first and ask questions later?" Wyatt interjects.

"Well look who finally got his memory back." Piper snarls at her son, who takes a few steps away from Piper as a precaution.

"How did you guys find her?" Phoebe asks.

"She sent us a message to save her on the spirit board." Paris answers.

"The spirit board?!" Phoebe shouts angrily as she turns to Piper, "You hid the Book of Shadows from them but you couldn't lock up the spirit board?"

"I didn't think it was a big deal to lock it up. I mean, how often have we used this spirit board ever since we got our powers?" Piper asks.

"I don't know, seeing as how the spirit board led me to find the Book for the very first time, you would think that thought would've crossed your mind!" Phoebe yells.

"Ok, this is not the time for all of that." Paige interrupts, trying to diffuse the tension, "We have more important issues to deal with."

"Like what?" Piper snaps at her.

"Like who the kids rescued her from." Paige replies.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige turn to Wyatt and Chris.

"Who did you rescue this woman from?" Paige asks the boys.

They look at each other in confusion, suddenly dawning on them that they went into this mission without knowing who they were going up against. They look at their parents with their ignorance shining brightly in their eyes.

"We don't know." Chris answers quietly.

"Great!" Piper chuckles angrily, "Just great."

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A loud scream echoes through the hallowed halls of the throne room accompanied by an explosion. Two demons stand before Abaddon with their head hanging low, shaking with fear.

"I guess I have to find new guards to stand watch at the gates," Abaddon says quietly as he turns to the other two demons.

"Now tell me how is it that the witches were able to find my island when you assured me that your protective shield hid my lair from all magic beings?!" he screams angrily.

"The shield worked perfectly for the past ten years," the demon states.

"The shield worked perfectly for ten years because nobody attempted to break in for ten years! Not until tonight!"

"My lord, the earthquake yesterday must have…" the demon begins to explain but Abaddon interrupts.

"Must have?! What did you tell me when I recruited you into my employ? Hmm?" Abaddon asks the demon standing before him. The demon mumbled his words under his breath.

"Speak up! I can't hear you. What. Did. You. Tell. Me?" Abaddon asks once more, placing emphasis on each word.

"I told you I can build you an impenetrable forcef…" the demon begins to say but Abaddon holds up his hand, cutting him off.

"I want to hear what you said verbatim. Start over again!"

"I can build you an impenetrable force field the likes…"

"UH UH! Don't forget you also threw in the word ' _impregnable_ '." Abaddon interrupts once more.

"I can build you an impenetrable and impregnable force field the likes of which has never been seen before. This is my specialty." The demon finally states.

"This is _MY_ specialty!" Abaddon emphasizes as he begins to pace back and forth, "Those were your exact words, and apparently the shield that had effortlessly kept me off of the radar of every magical being there is failed because you lied!"

"I can fix it, my lord. Just give me a few minutes to…"

"A few minutes?!" Abaddon whispers, spinning around and facing the demons "I gave you ten years and the first time someone tries to break in, they succeed. Do you see why I'm angry? Do you see the conundrum I am faced with here?"

"Yes, my lord." The demon whimpers.

"Right…" Abaddon says as he walks up to the demon he was interrogating, "The point is you failed."

Abaddon forms a fireball and walks closer. He bounces the fireball in the palm of his hand and the orange glow from the fireball appears and disappears from the demon's face, who looks down in fear.

"No. I don't need any more scorch marks on my marble floor." Abaddon says as he extinguishes the fireball by clapping his hands. The demon breathes a sigh of relief as he exhales sharply. With a snap of his fingers, the demon incinerates to dust in an instant. The remaining demon stares at the pile of ashes gathered next to him.

"You will clean that up and then find Sebastian, wherever he is and bring him to me."

"Yes, my lord." The demon replies quickly.

"Do not return to me empty handed or else you will be next." Abaddon says as his eyes shift to the pile of ashes on the ground.

The demon nods quickly and falls to his knees. Abaddon turns around and walks to his chair. He sits down and clenches his jaw as he thinks about what his next move should be.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

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STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Created by: Constance M. Burge

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A quick view of the city of San Francisco at night lands us at the Halliwell Manor. The attic is crowded with the Charmed Ones and their children with Piper standing in the middle of the attic, arguing with Wyatt and Chris. The rest of the crew are either sitting on the couch or standing on the sidelines watching the shouting match between mother and sons.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Piper screeches, "You were not even thinking at all because you wouldn't have put yourselves in this situation if you were."

"I still don't see what we did wrong. We did what we thought was right; that's what we were thinking." Wyatt answers, fielding the question.

"And what _exactly_ did you think was right?! Enlighten me because I really want to know."

"We received the SOS and then we went to go rescue her. Isn't that what we do as witches? Save innocents?" Chris cuts in.

"You know nothing about being witches and saving innocents." Piper snarls, her hands moving rapidly along with her words for emphasis, "You are too young to be saving innocents."

"So basically you're saying we're too young to know right from wrong? Is that it?" Wyatt asks, trying very hard to keep his voice levelled and lower than his mother.

"Yes!" Piper bellows in return.

"That's not fair!" Chris shouts back.

"You did not consider the consequences of your actions when you guys decided to jump into this adventure." Piper argues.

"What consequences, mom? We saved the innocent! She's here safe and sound, isn't she?" Wyatt states as he desperately tries to drag his point across.

"You must be kidding me!" Piper says through gritted teeth, "First mistake, intercepting a message that was clearly not meant for you…"

"How were we supposed to know who it was meant for? We got the message and acted accordingly and you are mad?" Chris asks, bewildered at his mother's logic.

Piper groans in disbelief as she laughs out loud.

"Phoebe, talk to them because I can't do this!" she says as she walks away into the corner, pacing back and forth.

"You guys took this on without accessing the entire situation…" Phoebe begins.

"We thought about it, Aunt Phoebe. We did not go into this blindly." Wyatt affirms.

"Yes, you did!" Piper interjects as she walks closer to them, "You took on a mission with no experience in how to handle threats, you dragged your sister into this, and you dragged your cousins, the youngest being only 6 years old I might add, into this! You dragged them to God knows where to rescue God knows who because you _claim_ she was a prisoner. You don't even know why she was imprisoned; you don't know if you if she was held for a good reason or held for evil reasons."

"That sounds unlikely, mom. " Chris scoffs.

"It is very likely. I can't tell you how many times we went in to save an innocent and found out they were evil. It has happened countless times before!" Piper exclaims.

"Piper, calm down and let me take this." Phoebe allays, trying to pacify the situation.

Piper groans and walks away into the corner with folded arms.

"I understand what you did and I know your heart was in the right place." Phoebe begins, "But you endangered your lives and those of your cousins as well. Have you noticed that we have not dealt with demons in years and all of a sudden, we vanquished two tonight?"

"Doesn't that say something, Aunt Phoebe? If demons came after us for rescuing Laylah, doesn't that mean that whoever had her was evil? That we did the right thing?" Wyatt asks innocently, still trying to placate his aunts and mother.

"In retrospect, you guys did the right thing in rescuing her. We would've done the same thing if we were in your shoes." Phoebe says calmly.

"Phoebe!" Piper squeals from her corner.

"It's the truth, Piper and you know it." Phoebe admits without taking her eyes off of Wyatt and Chris.

"Thank you!" Chris hollers in a victorious tone.

"Don't push it." Phoebe shoots back with a serious look.

"Sorry." Chris whispers in return.

"You all did well but it doesn't change the fact that you guys are too young and inexperienced to handle a situation like this." Phoebe remarks, her voice remaining cool and calm.

"And whose fault is that?" Tricia interjects.

"Excuse me?" Phoebe snaps.

"If you trained us to use our powers instead of denying us who were are, we wouldn't be 'inexperienced' like you say." Tricia claps back.

"We will talk about this later, young lady." Phoebe declares.

"Right. Of course we will. Talk about it later like you always say but we never get to." Tricia sighs as she rolls her eyes. Phoebe shifts her focus back to her nephews.

"Wyatt was unconscious and if Paige wasn't here to heal him, who knows what would have happened? Don't you see that?" Phoebe emphasizes.

"I guess you're right." Wyatt finally concedes. He looks up at his mother with his blue somber eyes, "We're sorry, mom."

Piper walks towards her sons, still with her arms folded. Without saying a word, she unfolds her arms and wraps them around her boys. Phoebe takes a deep breath and looks at Paige who gives her a nod of encouragement. Phoebe steps aside as Piper breaks her hug and tucks her hair behind her ears.

"Now, you're grounded for two weeks." Piper says calmly.

"What?!" Wyatt and Chris scream in disbelief.

"I initially thought to ground you both for a month, but your aunt just changed my mind." Piper responds.

"That's not fair!" Chris protests.

"Do you want me to change my mind again?" Piper asks sternly, shooting them both with a cold stare.

"No ma'am." They both relent.

"Good." Piper sighs, "If you every try to do what you guys did tonight again, I will strip your powers and ground you until kingdom come. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am." They both answer in unison.

"Now, go to your room." Piper commands.

Wyatt and Chris drag themselves out of the attic, walking out feeling as defeated as ever. Piper looks at Mellie and jerks her head in their direction. Mellie, understanding what that means, stands up and follows her brothers out of the attic. Piper takes a deep breath and breathes a sigh of relief.

Phoebe turns around and stares at her daughters, "Downstairs! Now!"

Tricia as always rolls her eyes and stomps out of the attic with her sisters following her attitude. Paige turns to her children as well.

"You heard your aunt. Downstairs, now!" Paige commands.

Penny and Junior follow their cousins out. Gabby walks a little bit slower than her siblings, trailing behind them. She turns around to face her mother with tears in her eyes.

"Mom, I…" she begins to say but Paige stops her.

"Don't." Paige says, shutting her down, "I am very disappointed in you."

Those words cut deeply into Gabby's soul and the evidence of her pain fell from her brown eyes and trickled down her pale cheeks. She slowly turns away and walks out of the attic.

Paige collapses onto the couch and exhales sharply.

"You can say that again." Phoebe says as she walks over and sits next to her sister.

"I can't believe this is happening." Piper says as she runs her fingers through her hair.

"Well, they're our kids. We're being punished for what we did to Grams." Phoebe annotates as she sighs heavily.

"You keep throwing this ' _we_ ' word around as if we all tortured Grams." Piper asserts as she walks over to the already crowded couch and squeezes herself next to Phoebe.

The three sisters sitting across from Laylah's unconscious body in the attic stare at her in silence.

"Do you think she's evil?" Paige ponders out loud.

"I don't know. I don't think so." Phoebe responds quietly. She focuses her attention on Laylah as her empathy power chimes in, "I don't sense anything evil about her."

"Do you think you can tell with her fast asleep?" Piper asks.

"Her guard is down, so whatever signals I pick up are actually genuine." Phoebe replies as she stands up and walks closer to her.

"What is it?" Paige asks.

"I don't know. I just feel this strong connection to her, like we should know who she is or something." Phoebe answers as she walks towards Laylah cautiously.

"Of course you do." Piper quips, rolling her eyes.

"Phoebe, you should go." Paige states, "You have a plane to catch in the morning, don't you?"

"I can't leave now. I can't leave you guys with this. This is our problem now." Phoebe says.

"How long are you staying for? And where will you stay?" Piper asks.

"Another week? I don't know. We have been staying at the hotel this entire time. I'm pretty sure I can extend my vacation time." Phoebe answers.

"You are more than welcome to stay here if you want." Piper offers.

"I can't ask you to do that." Phoebe chuckles nervously, "That's five additional people in this house to your five."

"We'll figure it out." Piper affirms.

"The house felt cramped and crowded when it was just us three and Leo. I can't do it again, not when the kids are all older." Phoebe states.

"Just think about it, ok?" Piper offers once more and Phoebe nods.

"What do we do now?" Paige asks.

"We don't know where she came from or who she is. We just wait until she wakes up and ask her." Piper answers.

Phoebe stands over Laylah, examining her closely with her eyes. Intrigue fills her mind as she shivers. As much as she wanted to lay her hands on Laylah in an effort to extract a premonition, she restrains herself knowing that searching for the answers they all seek will undoubtedly unlock the doors they are not ready to open.

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Chris and Wyatt walk into their bedroom and Wyatt slams the bedroom door shut. He paces back and forth as he breathes in and breathes out loudly with every step.

"What are you doing?" Chris asks changing his clothes into his pajamas, "I thought pacing for comfort was my thing."

"I'm just so…" Wyatt begins to say but he grunts in frustration, "How are they going to be mad at us for doing what we were blessed with our powers to do?"

"I don't know bro but they were right. That was a dangerous situation we put ourselves in." Chris states.

"Are you serious? You're taking their side?! What happened to me and you against the world?" Wyatt asks.

"It's always going to be me and you against the world and that will never change," Chris responds, "It's just that we endangered the lives of Mellie and the rest of the cousins tonight because we were thrill seeking. Admit it, Wyatt. You've wanted to do something like this for a long time. You wanted to flex and show off your powers."

"I wasn't thrill-seeking. That was the right thing to do, Chris and you know it." Wyatt defends himself, "Besides, I wasn't the one who was reading magic books and studying demonology from books you stole from Magic School so you wanted this as much as I did."

"Ah so you admit that I was right." Chris smiles.

Wyatt stops his pacing and stares angrily at his brother. "Shut up, Chris."

Chris laughs out loud and then his laughter dies down for a little bit. Wyatt takes off his shoes and walks into the closet. He comes out of his closet wearing his pajamas and jumps onto his bunk bed. He lies on his back and stares at the ceiling while Chris still sits at the edge of his bed. As the sounds of crickets chirping absorb the silence that suddenly fills the room, Chris mutters, "You did scare me for a little bit though."

Wyatt exhales sharply.

"How?"

"You know what I mean." Chris says, trying his best not to get emotional.

"Don't worry about me; it's my job to be worrying about you and Mel." Wyatt comments.

"Stop the crap, Wyatt. Doesn't change the fact that you almost died tonight." Chris says.

"It's not crap, Chris. What do we say?" Wyatt asks.

"Don't make me say it."

"I'm serious, Chris." Wyatt says as he sits up, "What's our saying?"

"I am my brother's keeper and my sister's protector." Chris says.

"I am _your_ keeper and _Mellie's_ protector." Wyatt repeats, "You do well to remember that for as long as we are alive, it is my job as your big brother to look out after you."

"And it's my job to do the same for you." Chris adds.

"I don't need your protection, Chris." Wyatt says sharply.

"Ok." Chris says, giving up.

Wyatt lies back into his bed and an awkward silence fills the room again.

"You almost died." Chris says softly, "Don't. Do. It. Again."

Wyatt takes a deep breath as a look of worry creeps up on his face. Chris turns off the lights in the bedroom and crawls into bed.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Abaddon has always been the comical one among his siblings. His remarks and witty banter always exuded with sarcasm until the point where no one really took him seriously when he had moments devoid of humor. His mischievous and menacing attitude was cloaked by his facetious nature and in certain ways; he considered it to be a strength he possessed. He never felt the need to express his emotions because just like the mindset of every demon, emotion equals weakness.

Today was an exception. The façade he has spent centuries creating was cracking with every ticking minute on the clock. His forehead was moist with sweat and his eyebrows furrowed with worry. He sat on his throne, tapping his right foot with anxiety with fear of the unknown. Questions ran through his mind like an athlete sprinting a marathon but no answers yielded from it.

He sat in his throne room waiting for his advisor and right hand man, Sebastian but his patience was growing thin. Not the kind of person to sit and ponder, he felt the need to do something. With a wave of his hand, a demon materializes in front of him. Confused as ever, the demon looks around angrily and when his eyes fall on the man sitting on the throne, he falls on his knees and lowers his head.

"My lord." He says respectfully.

"Yes, yes…" Abaddon waves his hand lackadaisically, gesturing him to stand up. The demon rises.

"I take it you heard what happened here last week?" Abaddon asks, trying to pick his brain.

"Yes, my lord." The demon replies.

"And what did you hear?"

The demon opens his mouth to answer but hesitates.

"Speak!" Abaddon bellows.

"The Charmed Ones infiltrated your walls and took your sister." The demon answers.

"Is that all?" Abaddon questions.

"Yes, my lord."

"What can you tell me about these witches? The so called Charmed Ones?" Abaddon asks as he slides back into his seat comfortably.

"I thought you knew about them already seeing as how you and your brothers…."

"I know the gist of their prophecy. I know the textbook version of who they are supposed to be but I have never had to deal with them until now for obvious reasons…" Abaddon explains.

"They are most powerful witches to ever walk the earth. Their power of three is the strongest magic to ever exist..." the demon explains humbly.

"More powerful than mine?" Abaddon asks as he leans forward and rests his head on his balled up fist, intrigued.

"That's not for me to say, my lord." The demon answers.

"So that's a yes; even though I'm a Taxiarch?" Abaddon inquires with a smirk.

The demon does not answer.

"Any word on Sebastian?" Abaddon asks.

"No, my lord."

"Well then. How many demons do you command?" Abaddon asks.

"I have a few hundred at the ready." The demon answers.

"Good." Abaddon utters as his smirk grows, "We have work to do."

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Piper buses around her kitchen doing what she loves doing most; cooking for her family. Dressed in her pajamas, she has a full spread of breakfast meals on the table with no space in sight. Leo strolls into the kitchen with a pep in his step and slows down when he sees the feast Piper has prepared.

"Wow!" Leo whistles, clearly impressed.

"Good morning, honey." Piper smiles.

"Good morning." Leo walks up to his wife and plants a kiss on her lips.

"You seem surprised." Piper says as she scrapes the bottom of the frying pan and places it in the dishwasher.

"I'm surprised you're home at this time." Leo responds as he takes a seat and grabs a slice of bacon.

"I'm my own boss. I can go to work anytime I want." Piper states, "You know I always make a breakfast feast on the kids' first day of school. I haven't missed one before and I'm not going to start now."

"Clearly." Leo says with his mouth full.

"Are the kids coming down?" Piper asks.

"They should be here any minute." Leo answers, "Did you pack their lunches?"

"Of course." Piper says as she points to three lunch boxes on the kitchen counter.

"I don't know why I even asked." Leo laughs, "So who is going to watch sleeping beauty with nobody in the house?"

"Damn it, I didn't even think about that." Piper realizes, "Maybe Phoebe or Paige?"

"Are you sure they will want to come here just for that?" Leo asks.

"Paige will jump at the chance if it meant escaping her house for a few hours and I don't think Phoebe has anything to do today so she might come."

Wyatt, Chris and Mellie stroll into the kitchen with their eyes widened. Traces of their ravenous hunger emanates from their behavior as they sit down and immediately start piling their plate with food. Piper watches her children with a smile on her face and looks at Leo, who watches them in amazement.

"Hey, can you pass the…" Wyatt says with his mouth full.

"Sure, no doubt." Chris replies, finishing his brother's sentence. Chris hands Wyatt a jar of syrup and Wyatt pours it all over his pancakes. Wyatt begins to stuff his face.

"Hey, hey! Slow down! I don't want to perform the Heimlich maneuver this early in the day." Piper laughs.

"Sorry mom, I'm just a little nervous. First day of high school and all." Wyatt says as he stuffs the eggs in his mouth.

"And this is how you soothe your nerves? By stuffing your face?" Piper quips.

"Mom, do you have our lunches?" Mellie asks politely.

Piper points to the counter where the three lunch boxes sit. Wyatt stops chewing as he looks at the lunch boxes and then looks at his parents.

"You guys can't be serious." Wyatt begins to say.

"What's the problem?" Leo asks.

"I'm not going to school with that." Wyatt complains.

"What do you mean?" Piper asks as she folds her arms.

"Mom, this is my first day of high school. I'm not going to show up there with a lunch box my mom prepared for me. That is so junior high." Wyatt says as Chris shoots him an angry glance, "No offense."

"Some taken." Chris shoots back as he continues to eat his breakfast.

"What are you going to eat for lunch then?" Piper asks.

Wyatt extends his hand, palm facing up towards his mother. His smile grows slowly.

"You must be out of your damn mind." Piper shakes her head.

"Come on, mom. Please?!" Wyatt pleads.

Leo reaches into his jacket and takes out his wallet, smiling. "Will ten cover it?"

"You're awesome, dad!" Wyatt exclaims as Leo places a ten dollar bill in Wyatt's palm.

A car horn can be heard beeping outside.

"That's Dom's dad. We got to go." Wyatt says as he begins to grab extra muffins and runs out the door. Chris and Mellie grab their lunch boxes and run out.

"Bye mom! Bye dad!" Mellie screams and Chris echoes as they run out the kitchen door.

Piper takes a deep breath and looks at Leo.

"Those are _your_ kids." Piper laughs.

"Yeah, I know." Leo sighs as he walks to his wife and wraps his arms around her, "What about you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Piper answers, "I have to head to the restaurant to handle some things."

"What about the offer? Are you going to take it?" Leo asks.

"I'm thinking about it. What do you think I should do?"

"My mind hasn't changed. You should take it on. It's a great opportunity for you and the business." Leo answers.

"Juggling a chain of restaurants and the club? That's a lot for one person to handle." Piper sighs.

"Well you got me." Leo offers, "That's my job, right? To make your life easier?"

"Is it now?" Piper asks with a smile.

Leo answers her with a kiss.

"That's good to know." Piper states.

"Maybe if it gets too overwhelming, you could sell the club." Leo notes.

"Uh no. That isn't happening."

"Just a suggestion, honey." Leo counters as he plants another kiss on Piper's lips, "Got to go to the restaurant. Promise me you'll consider it?"

"Selling the club?"

"No, accepting the offer." Leo shouts as he walks out the door.

Piper's eyes stare off into the distance, casting her mind into a daydream. Too many thoughts run through her mind as she contemplates the choices before her. She takes a deep sigh and takes out her cell phone. She dials a number and waits for a response.

"Phoebe? Hey, I need your help."

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Phoebe hangs up the phone and looks across from the dining room table, staring at her husband and her kids sitting around them. The silence that fills the room is suddenly broken when Coop asks his daughters a question.

"What do you guys think about starting school today?"

"There's nothing to be thinking about when we're supposed to be leaving soon." Tricia answers.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we might enroll you guys in the same school as Mellie just in case we do stay." Phoebe cuts in.

"Are you serious?" Paris asks excitedly.

Phoebe nods with a smile.

"I would've thought that you guys couldn't wait to go back to London." Coop mutters.

"Life wasn't as interesting in London like it is here." Tricia quips.

"You're 9; you don't know anything about leading an interesting life." Phoebe says.

"Well we had more fun in the last week than we have ever had in the last 5 years in London." Tricia spits.

"Look, as long as we have this Laylah issue to deal with, we will stay here to help your aunties until they don't need us anymore." Phoebe states.

"You are throwing these pronouns " _we_ " and " _us_ " around as if you're including us in it when you really mean _you_ and _your_ sisters." Tricia rants.

"Well, if you didn't go behind my back with your cousins to create this issue for us, maybe I would be able to include you guys." Phoebe maintains as Tricia rolls her eyes at her mother.

"You keep saying that but we know that's just an excuse." Tricia says.

"You need to watch how you keep talking to me before I strip you of your powers." Phoebe threatens.

"Well, you might have to. That's the only way you can keep me from using them." Tricia fires back.

The room is filled with silence again with the exception of the scraping and the clanking of the eating utensils. Tricia stands up and Coop shoots her an angry stare.

"May I be excused?!" Tricia asks sarcastically.

Coop nods in response. Tricia walks away from the dining room. Phoebe sighs and looks at her children and then at Coop.

"Will you take them to the school to enroll them? Piper asked me to come to the manor to watch Laylah." Phoebe asks as she stands up.

"Sure." Coop answers quietly as he looks in the direction of Tricia's room and then back at Phoebe, "And I will talk to her. Don't worry."

"Please and thank you." Phoebe says as she walks to her husband and plants a kiss on his lips. She walks over to Paisley and kisses her on the forehead and does the same to Paris.

"Bye mommy." Paisley says as she watches her mother leave.

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"We finally have some time to ourselves now that school is starting back up again." Henry moans as he kisses Paige on the back of her neck. Paige lies on her side with her back towards him and his arm is wrapped around Paige's with a blanket covering their lower half.

"I have to get the kids ready for school." Paige groans as she places a hand behind Henry's head.

"They can take care of themselves. They're old enough." Henry says as he continues to kiss Paige on her neck and down her arm.

"Junior is not old enough." Paige says, "Little Henry needs me."

"If the kids can go fight demons and save an innocent, they can get themselves ready for school." Henry maintains as he gets on top of Paige, "Besides Big Henry needs you too."

"Your logic is flawed and I can't say that I blame you, seeing as how _your_ little Henry is doing all the thinking for Big Henry." Paige smiles, "Besides, aren't you late for work?"

"Nope. Took the day off because of the kids' first day of school." Henry says as he moves further down south. He lifts the blanket and runs underneath it.

"No, no, no! Stop it." Paige begins to fight as she hits Henry's head but she gives in. She closes her eyes and bites her lower lip.

"Do you still want me to stop?" Henry asks, his voice muffled under the blanket.

Paige shakes her head in response.

"Mom?! I don't know where my shoes are. Can you help me find them?!" Junior screams from the other side.

"Ugh!" Paige groans as she sits up, "I told you, they need me."

Henry comes up from underneath the covers and lies next to Paige, "Well, can't say we didn't try."

Paige smiles as she runs her hand over her head.

"It's ok. I was going to stop by the Manor anyway." Paige says as she jumps out of the bed and runs into the bathroom.

"For what?!" Henry shouts as he rests his hands underneath his head.

"Laylah. I figure my sisters will need help with that and I have all the time in the world to spare while my sisters are busy being entrepreneurs and stuff." Paige says as the shower can be heard being turned on.

"You're going to shower now?" Henry asks.

"No, this is for you." Paige answers, "I'm going out there to help the kids."

"Even though I said they don't need you." Henry notes.

"I'm their mother." Paige says as she walks closer to her husband and kisses him, "They will always need me."

"I need you!" Henry whines as Paige walks away smiling.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Paige walks downstairs to the living room where Gabby is sitting on the couch patiently waiting, and Penny keeps moving back and forth, looking extremely nervous.

"Penny, are you ok?" Paige asks as she walks closer to her daughter.

"Nothing. It's just the first day of school. No big deal." Penny says as she chuckles nervously.

"Sure." Paige says unconvinced. She turns her focus to Gabby who is still sitting on the couch quietly, "What's going on?"

Gabby says nothing. She looks down and takes out her cell phone and starts playing a game.

"She's not talking to you." Penny answers, as she continues to pace back and forth.

"I see." Paige sighs as she turns around and heads back up the stairs. She walks down the center of a hallway and then reaches a door. She knocks gently and presses her ear against it gently.

"Junior?" she calls, "It's me. Are you decent?"

"I can't find my shoes." Henry Jr can be heard screaming on the other side.

"Can I come in?" Paige asks. As soon as the last word exits Paige's lips, the door swings open and Paige falls face first on the ground, landing on a pile of clothes.

"This is probably one of the few and maybe only time I am glad your room is a mess." Paige says as she struggles to stand.

"Can you help me, mom?" Junior asks.

"Yeah, if you cleaned your room, maybe you would have an easier time finding your shoe." Paige cracks as she hops around the island of clothes scattered in the center of Henry Junior's room.

"Mom, I don't have time for this!"

"If you got your stuff ready last night like I told you, we wouldn't be having this problem." Paige scolds.

"I get it mom." Junior whines with a hint of frustration echoing in his voice, "Please help me look for it."

Paige sighs as she watches her son search frantically for these pair of shoes he wants so badly. She drops on her knees and begins to look under the bed and then she stops.

"What shoes are you looking for because I have no idea?" Paige asks.

"The Nike's with the black and red stripe on the side." Junior answers as he walks into his closet.

Paige looks back under the bed and closes her eyes. A blue and white orbs dancing under the bed materialize and then the pair of shoes appear.

"Look what I found!" Paige exclaims as she pulls them out of the dark.

Junior turns around and jumps with joy, "You found them!"

"Of course I did. Now hurry up and get ready. Your dad is taking you guys to school." Paige says as she runs her fingers through his hair. She sits down on his bed and Junior joins her.

"I thought you were going to take us?" Junior asks.

"No, I have to go help Aunt Piper and Phoebe with what you guys started." Paige reminds him once more. Henry Jr.'s head hangs low in guilt.

"Did I say how sorry I am?" Junior says with his voice toned with regret.

"I know, baby." Paige says as she wraps her arms around him with his head resting on her shoulder, "I know."

"Can you let Gabby know that too? She didn't want to do it and actually wanted us to tell you but we outnumbered her." Junior confesses.

"She did?" Paige asks as her eyes widen.

"Mm-hmm." Junior nods.

"Ok." Paige whispers as she kisses Junior on the forehead. She stands up and walks towards the door, "I'll see you downstairs."

"Ok, mom." Junior says as he begins to put on his shoes. Paige watches him silently and walks out, closing the door behind her.

Paige walks downstairs to the living room where Gabby and Penny are getting ready to walk out the door when Billie shows up at the door. Henry and Junior run down the stairs.

"Are we ready?!" Henry yells as he arrives at the bottom of the stairs.

"What's going on?" Billie greets happily.

"Hey, Aunt Billie!" Penny says as she hugs her.

"Hey, Aunt Billie…" Gabby says right after her sister as she leans in and kisses Billie on the cheek.

"What's up?" Billie asks.

"School. We'll see you later!" Penny says as she runs out.

"Gabby…" Paige calls as she grabs her daughter's arm, "Talk to me."

"I have nothing to talk about, mom. I got to go. Don't want to keep dad waiting." Gabby says quietly as she walks out. Henry Jr. walks to his mother and kisses her on her cheek.

"Have a great day at school." Paige says softly.

"I will…" Junior says as he runs out of the house.

Henry walks to his wife and plants a kiss on her lips, "I'll see you later, ok?"

"Mm hmm." Paige nods as she kisses him once more.

"Hey Billie." Henry greets as he turns around and walks out.

"Hey…" Billie waves as she watches them leave and walks in, "What the hell was all of that about?"

"Which one?" Paige asks as she closes the door behind Billie and follows her.

"Gabby. She seems so down."

"She went off demon hunting with her cousins so…"

"She what?" Billie asks in surprise.

"Yeah, you heard right." Paige continues to drag her feet as she drops onto her couch. Billie sits down across from her.

"Wow, how did that go?" Billie asks.

"Well they rescued a woman they believed to be an innocent."

"That doesn't sound so bad…" Billie says, impressed.

"Wyatt came back unconscious and I had to heal him." Paige adds.

"Well I mean you can't win them all. They were successful, right?" Billie asks.

"If you call bringing an unconscious woman back to the manor and demons back into our lives after a long absence as successful, then yeah. It was successful."

"Ok, sorry I asked." Billie says, raising her hands in defense.

"How was New York?" Paige asks.

"It was ok…" Billie strains.

"Billie?"

"It was boring." Billie confesses as she whines, "All I did was sit through board meetings, listening to employee and customer complaints and have power lunches that makes watching paint dry seem interesting."

Paige laughs but stops when Billie cuts her an angry glare.

"Well, this is what you got your degree in so why are you surprised that this is what you asked for?" Paige asks.

"I knew what I was getting myself into; I guess I didn't know it was going to be that bad. Plus, I had the demon fighting to put some excitement in my life but with the demons taking a hiatus or whatever they have been doing, my life hasn't exactly been exciting."

"I see…" Paige chuckles.

"I'm serious, Paige." Billie whines, "I wish I could cruise the underworld and vanquish some demons but Jerry stops me from doing that and it is frustrating."

"Punching demons is not a recreational sport, Billie."

"Punching demons is therapeutic for me, Paige." Billie notes.

"Well, we have an innocent at the manor that may actually need some protecting from some demons…"

"Really?" Billie asks as her eyes light up like a child on Christmas morning.

"Yeah, we vanquished two demons last week. More might be coming for this woman."

"Why are we still sitting here?!" Billie asks as she jumps up and grabs Paige's hand, yanking her out of her seat.

"Slow down!" Paige laughs, "Give me a moment. I have to take a shower and change first."

"Sure. We're on boot camp time. You got fifteen minutes." Billie commands.

Paige rolls her eyes and begins to walk up the stairs.

"Why are you walking?" Billie asks, "Orb!"

Paige squints her eyes and an apple orbs into Billie's mouth. Her words are muffled and finally get the hint. Paige laughs as she walks up the stairs. Billie takes the apple out of her mouth and smiles.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper sits on a chair in a bedroom, staring straight ahead while in deep thought. Her eyes are apparently focused on Laylah, who lays peacefully on the bed. As the thoughts run rampant in her mind, she snaps out of it due to the sound of the front door slamming shut.

"Piper?!" a voice can be heard calling in the distance.

"Up here in the guest bedroom!" Piper yells back.

A few moments later, footsteps can be heard on the other side of the door and finally the door swings open. Phoebe walks in cautiously and stands next to Piper.

"Hey. What's going on?" Phoebe asks.

"Nothing, just sitting here thinking." Piper says, as her mind begins to wander once more.

"Care to share?" Phoebe asks as she folds her arms.

Piper opens her mouth to spill all her fears, her thoughts and her worries but she hesitates. She looks at her sister with tears in her eyes and takes a deep sigh.

"I'm here to listen, Piper. Talk to me." Phoebe says as she sits next to Piper.

"I don't know why but I feel like something bad is going to happen. For as long as she is laying there unconscious, we are safe. As soon as she opens her eyes, all the evil in the world and the horrible things we have learned to live without in almost six years. She is like a Pandora's Box in human form."

Phoebe absorbs Piper's words and takes a deep breath.

"All this sounds familiar, doesn't it?" Phoebe begins, "When I first read the incantation in the Book of Shadows, it was basically the same thing. We were hidden, and our powers lay dormant. When we woke up, the demons and the warlocks came running and we were able to handle them. Everything turned out fine, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but then look what happened to Prue." Piper notes.

Phoebe stutters for a moment and then bites her tongue.

"It's okay." Piper says as tears run down her face, "I know after our last argument, you don't want to bring that up again but it doesn't make it any less true. I wish I could be like you, you know?"

"What do you mean?"

"You don't hurt as much as I do about Prue. The pain of losing Prue still lingers in my heart. I have tried for years and it's still there. Prue has been gone for 16 years and it still feels like it was yesterday. Do you know I still dream about her last day with us?"

"No I didn't." Phoebe says as she begins to brush Piper's hair with her palm in an effort to console her.

"I have dreamt about it the night before and every night since the kids brought her here. I don't know a lot about dreams but that has to mean something, right? Even you said it; you feel a connection to her."

"Yeah, I did." Phoebe answers softly.

"I just don't understand why Prue had to be so stubborn and get herself recycled but I guess there's nothing we can do about it now. We just need to focus on this situation at hand." Piper sniffles.

"Everything happens for a reason. If Laylah wakes up and all the troubles we have been deflecting for the past few years comes back to haunt us, then we will handle it together. You are not alone." Phoebe says gently as she wipes the tears from Piper's eyes.

"I know." Piper whispers.

The front door of the Manor can be heard slamming shut again.

"Piper?!" Paige yells.

"Upstairs!" Phoebe replies back.

Piper stands up and walks towards the door.

"And you're wrong, you know." Phoebe says as her words stops Piper in her tracks. Piper turns around to face her sister, confusion drawn all over her face.

"Prue's death lingers in my heart too. I may not wear my emotions on my sleeve like you do but I feel the pain every day." Phoebe says as her voice begins to break. Piper nods her head in understanding and walks out of the room. Phoebe clears her throat and turns looks at Laylah. She takes a deep breath, stands up and walks out of the room.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Wyatt stared at his new school with butterflies in his stomach. His gaze was lost in the crowd of people assembling in front of the school with laughter and noise in the air. His brother and sister sat behind him in the car as the car was parked in front of the school. The voices of those around him sounded like white noise, ringing in his ears and placing him in a world of his own where even his positive thoughts couldn't vanquish his fears. Suddenly, the sound of his name hit him square in the chest, snapping him out of his daydream.

"Yo Wyatt!" a boy's voice can be heard calling. Wyatt turns his head to face another boy, an African American male around the same age as he is.

"You alright?" his friend asks.

"Yeah." Wyatt sighs.

"It's just high school, man. We will be alright."

"Dom's right." Chris cuts in.

"How would you know? You're still in junior high." Wyatt snaps at his brother.

"We're just right next door, Wyatt. We are not that far." Mellie adds.

"It's not the same." Wyatt says; his heart pounding faster as the crowd gets larger.

"We got this, man. Come on." Dom says as he opens the car door and steps out of the Black Nissan Pathfinder. Wyatt, Chris and Mellie step out as well and walk towards the entrance of the school.

Wyatt takes a deep breath and then turns his head towards his brother and sister, shooting them an anxious look. Mellie gives him a reassuring smile and Chris gives him a comforting head nod. Wyatt flashes a weak smile and walks straight ahead with Dom as Chris and Mellie stay behind. Chris stares at his sister and extends his hand for her to hold. Mellie smiles and grabs her brother's hand as they turn and walk towards the elementary and junior high part of the school.

Chris walks to the door of the elementary school and stops in the front.

"You ok?" he asks as he turns to his sister.

"I'll be fine. It's just fifth grade." Mellie says confidently with a smile.

Chris smiles and hugs her.

"So after school, meet up here?" Mellie asks.

"Of course." Chris answers.

"Ok." Mellie says as she turns around and skips into the building. Chris takes a deep breath, turns around and walks towards his school.

"Chris?" a man's voice can be heard calling him from behind. Chris stops and turns around.

"Uncle Henry?" Chris squints as he tries to decipher the man behind him.

"I told you it was him!" Coop says as he runs to catch up to Henry.

"Uncle Coop?"

"Hey buddy!" Coop greets as he pats gently Chris on his back.

"What are you guys doing here?" Chris asks.

"Came to drop your cousins off. Today is their first day of school." Coop answers.

"Cousins? Like your children?" Chris asks in confusion.

"Yeah, Chris. Who else did you think we were talking about?" Coop asks as he breaks into a minor laugh.

"I mean, I knew the twins and Junior were here but the girls? I thought you guys were going to Europe soon." Chris wonders.

"Yeah, well things got in the way and changed things so we're putting them in school just in case we decide to stay." Coop explains.

"That's awesome." Chris replies.

"Do you need a ride after school? I'm coming to pick them all up when school lets out." Henry offers.

"Yeah, that will be great." Chris nods.

"Have a great day at school, C. Catch you later." Henry says as he walks away. Coop waves at Chris as he follows Henry. Chris watches his uncles walk away and he takes a deep breath.

This is the first time for as long as he can remember that he didn't have to step into the building with Wyatt. He didn't know if he was excited or not but he pushed that thought into the back of his mind and finally walked into the building as the school bell rang.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper and Phoebe walk into the dusty attic where Billie and Paige were awaiting the two sisters.

"Hey Billie!" Phoebe greets as she walks to her and pulls her into a hug.

"Good to see you again, Phoebe." Billie smiles cheerfully as they separate.

"What's going on?" Paige asks.

"Nothing at the moment. Laylah is still sleeping and God only knows how much longer she is going to be sleeping for. I am late for work and I don..." Piper explains as her sentence is cut off by Phoebe's cell phone ringing.

Phoebe chuckles nervously as she looks at her phone and ignores the phone call, "Carry on. Don't mind me."

"As I was saying," Piper continues as she rolls her eyes and folds her arms, "it has been a week since we have been attacked by demons but I still expect someone to send them our way so…"

"More demons?" Billie asks.

"Yeah, whoever wants her is going to come back." Piper answers.

"Have we figured out who it is yet?" Paige asks.

"No." Phoebe answers.

"So why don't we go and find out?" Billie suggests.

"Because we don't know what we're going up against and we are not going to bring any more problems than what we need right now." Piper maintains.

"That means _Billie…_ " Phoebe emphasizes, "No demon hunting. Not until we know for sure what we're up against."

"So basically we're sitting ducks until it's too late." Billie scoffs.

"No, we're just being smart." Paige interjects.

"Smart? What happened to you guys?" Billie asks, her voice raising a pitch higher than before, "You guys are the Charmed Ones, the most powerful witches to ever walk the planet and the ones who set the bar for all witches including myself to follow."

"Billie…" Piper begins to say but Billie cuts her off.

"No! I understand you guys had a crazy fight over that innocent years ago but you guys need to stop running and remember who you guys are. There's a reason why demons tremble when your names are spoken, or demons feel the need to kill you guys in order to become the best. You guys are…no, you guys were the barrier that kept the demons from going too far. You're the reason the world has been safe and now you're hiding from them when they are clearly back and coming for you." Billie rants with her passion shining through her speech.

Phoebe's phone begins to ring again.

"For the love of God, Phoebe!" Piper groans out of frustration. Phoebe excuses herself and walks out of the attic as she picks up the phone.

"I'm not saying we're hiding but we're just being practical." Piper says trying to reason with Billie, "We have situations where we faced demons without going in prepared. Hell, you have done that too."

"Piper's right." Paige agrees, "Let's just wait it out until Laylah wakes up and then we move on from there."

"Ok." Billie mutters softly.

"So who wants to be on babysitting duty?" Piper asks as Billie and Paige look at each other in confusion.

"I have to go to work and handle some things, so it's between you two and Phoebe." Piper states.

"I might have to leave soon." Phoebe cuts in as she makes her way back into the attic, "That was Elise calling me to come to the Bay Mirror."

"She's still trying to recruit you?" Paige asks.

"No, she wants to interview me and knowing her, it's probably an excuse to get me to accept her offer." Phoebe answers.

"Why don't you accept it?" Billie asks.

"Because if I accept the job, then that means we're staying here for good and I don't want that." Phoebe replies, "So what's the verdict?"

"Babysitting duty." Billie says with very little enthusiasm.

"Yeah, I'm down for that. It's not like I have anything pressing to do anyway." Phoebe sighs.

"Are you sure?" Paige asks.

"Yeah. I need this." Phoebe answers.

"Do you think it is time to take out the book?" Paige asks.

"For what? We don't know what we're up against so that notion is pointless right now." Piper answers, "So we're good here?"

Phoebe, Paige and Billie nod in unison.

"Ok if you need me, I'm only one call away!" Piper says as she begins to walk away.

Phoebe takes a deep breath and stares and Billie and Paige.

"Now what?" Billie asks.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Chris walks down the noisy and crowded corridors of Dwight Eisenhower Junior High school, bearing a grin and cruising with no worries in the world. His nerves have subsided since this morning and by the looks of it, the day will be great day. The PA system chimes in and in a loud voice is heard, temporarily silencing the noise in the hallway.

"CHRISTOPHER HALLIWELL, PLEASE REPORT TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE. CHRISTOPHER HALLIWELL, PLEASE REPORT TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE." The voice speaks as the PA system chimes once more before it turns off. Chris looks around and sees all the eyes falling on him. Chuckling nervously, Chris turns around and walks in the opposite direction towards the principal's office.

A few minutes later, Chris opens the door and enters the office. The office was unusually silent and only noise that interrupted the silence was the clicking and clacking of the keyboard created by the secretary sitting before him. Looking around nervously, Chris approaches the secretary and opens his mouth to introduce himself when the secretary rudely points to the chair behind Chris.

"Have a seat. Principal Dawson will call you in as soon as she can." says the secretary without even lifting her eyes from her computer screen.

"Right…" Chris whispers to himself as he walks to the chair and takes a seat.

As soon as Chris sits down, the nerves ran through his whole body with full force. He had never been summoned to the Principal's office before and especially on the first day of school? He drew in shallow breaths and tried his best to ease his mind by thinking of reasons why he would be called in by the principal.

A short woman with a complexion so pale, the veins running through her body can be seen on the surface of her skin walks outside of an office. She was wearing a pants suit and her dirty blonde hair was pulled back into a bun.

"Christopher?" she calls to Chris in a shrill voice while she adjusts her glasses.

"Yes?"

"Follow me." She states as she steps aside.

Chris stands up and clears his throat. Not knowing what he was walking into, he hesitates for a brief second and then finally musters up the courage to walk into the office. The woman walks into her office after Chris and closes the door gently.

"Good morning, Christopher." She greets.

"Good morning, Principal Dawson." Chris responds, as he looks around the office.

"Have a seat, Christopher." She offers as she walks around her desk and takes her seat across from the two chairs on the other side. Chris walks closer to her desk and sits down.

"Do you know why I have called you in here?" Principal Dawson asks.

"Uh no. This has never happened to me before. Am I in trouble because I haven't done anything wrong?" Chris rambles.

Principal Dawson laughs and leans forward. She adjusts her glasses again.

"What makes you think you're here because you did something wrong?"

"I don't know. Every time my brother was called into this office, it was never for a good reason." Chris answers.

"I understand." Principal Dawson responds, "Your brother was a troublesome young fellow, he was no stranger to this office. Hell, I think he has been in here more than any student I have ever had."

Chris smiles nervously as he shifts his eyes towards his principal for a brief second and then looks down. The principal clears her throat once more.

"Chris, how would you say you did last year on your finals and grades?" Principal Dawson asks.

"I was okay. I passed and had all As except for music class. I had a B+." Chris answers innocently.

"You are a model student in this school, Chris. I can sing praises about how much of an extraordinary student you are but that is not going to do anything but waste your time."

Chris clears his throat nervously as he sits up. Principal Dawson opens up a drawer and takes out a thick, brown folder. She opens it up and takes a single sheet of paper and reads over it carefully. As she draws a deep breath, she hands it over to Chris.

"Here." She exhales sharply.

Chris grabs the paper and glance it over, his blue eyes rapidly scanning the paper and then finally stopping. He lowers the paper and stares at his principal with his mouth slightly open.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" he asks looking at Dawson for confirmation.

"Yes, Chris…" Principal Dawson nods with a smile, "You're skipping the eighth grade and heading to the ninth. You're going to high school."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper pulls up into the parking lot of P3. She parks her car and stares at the neon sign hanging above the entrance. Her mind's eye runs many memories through her mind for a brief second as Piper shakes her head trying to erase it all. She gets out of her car and walks into the club. She walks in slowly and begins to look around. In the pitch darkness in broad daylight, she begins to turn on the lights one by one, and slowly the club begins to illuminate.

Piper walks to the bar, positioned in the center of the club and walks over to the register. From the center of the bar, every corner of the club can be seen in perfect view. Piper's mind begins to wander once more, her mind producing memories she created in this establishment. She sees the first time she opened the club for business, the time where she caught the virus and her sisters celebrated her miraculous recovery even though Prue and Phoebe saved her with the awakening spell. Piper smiled at the thought of moving at hyper speed and the look Phoebe had on her face when she moved around the club in the blink of an eye.

Piper reminisced about the time Phoebe turned all the people in the club into animals, the time when Paige kept her from changing the name of P3 to the Spot. Piper chuckled at the thought of naming the club 'The Spot' and shook her head in amusement. She snaps out of the trip down the memory lane and looks around once more. She walks away from the bar and shuts off the lights one by one and with a final glance, she opens the exit of the club; releasing a streak of light into the club from the daylight outside and then closes the door.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Chris opens the door and walks into the quiet halls of the Eisenhower High School. The door slams shut behind him, echoing loudly in the hallway. His heart beats faster with every step he takes into the school and the lump in his throat doesn't seem to disappear with every attempted swallow. He clutches his backpack straps tightly as the nerves course through his body.

"I don't even know where I'm going." Chris utters to himself as he continues to look around.

"Hey!" a voice can be heard shouting from behind. Chris chooses to ignore it and keep on moving.

"Hey you!" the voice can be heard calling out to him again. Chris stops and slowly turns around.

"Why aren't you in class?" the boy asks as he walks closer to Chris.

"I just got here. I'm new." Chris replies meekly.

"I'm the hall monitor, maybe I can help you." He says as he arrives next to Chris. Chris' eyes widen when he realizes who he is talking to. The same boy he got into the altercation with a week ago at Wyatt's football tryouts, Brian.

"You…" the boy growls.

"Of course this would happen to me because why wouldn't it?" Chris rolls his eyes as he holds on tightly to his backpack straps.

"I knew I would get the opportunity to kick your ass again." Brian says as he pins Chris up against the lockers.

"Look, I do not have time for this. I'm already late as it is."

"That sounds like your problem, not mine." Brian replies with a smile.

"I don't want any problems, Brian." Chris says, trying to reason with Brian but sees that he is wasting his time.

"Ok, I'm trying to be reasonable but you obviously aren't listening." Chris says, struggling to break free.

Brian laughs as he pushes Chris onto the floor. Chris bumps his head on the tile and cuts his forehead. Chris trembles as he touches his open wound and sees the blood.

"You bleed easily, don't you?" Brian teases, "Well let's see what will happen after I actually punch you."

As Brian walks towards Chris, Chris closes his eyes and puts his hands up in defense and telekinetically sends him flying into the air. Brian falls onto the ground and slides further down the hallway. Chris opens his eyes and sees Brian lying down on the floor, groaning in pain. Brian stands up slowly.

"What did you do?!" he screams.

"Nothing…" Chris lies.

"Yeah, right. You're going to regret doing that." Brian says as he runs towards Chris like a charged up bull, heading for a matador with a red flag. As soon as Brian reaches Chris, the school bell rings and the doors of all the classrooms swing open. The empty hallway is suddenly filled with numerous students and teachers.

A crowd gathers around the two boys, curious to see what will happen next. Dom comes around the corner and sees Chris and Brian standing in the center of the circle.

"What's going on?!" a teacher asks as he approaches the two boys.

"We'll settle this later after school." Brian whispers to Chris, loud enough for his audience to hear but not loud enough to reach the teacher's ears.

"Nothing." Brian answers quickly as the teacher breaks through the ranks and stands in the circle formed crowd.

"Go on! There's nothing to see here!" the teacher yells as he tries to disperse the crowd. The teacher looks at Chris.

"Are you in the right school?"

"Yes, sir. Today is my first day." Chris answers politely.

"Do you know where you're going?" the teacher asks.

"No sir." Chris answers.

"Come with me. I'll take you to the guidance counselor's office and hopefully get you your class schedule." The teacher says as he leads Chris away from Brian.

Chris exhales sharply as he walks through the hallway, all eyes on him. He sees Dom and he flashes him a worried look. Dom looks on nervously as Chris walks away.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Billie lays on the couch while Paige sits on a couch opposite from her, slouching with her head tilted back and eyes closed.

"I didn't know that babysitting duty was so boring…" Paige groans.

"Well, it is not that much different than babysitting your kids." Billie quips.

"Ha ha, very funny." Paige says dryly.

"I would give anything to have a demon crash through the front door or something." Billie complains.

"Be careful what you wish for, Billie. With our luck, it might just happen." Paige warns.

"What is the worst that can happen?" Billie asks, "I mean we have three witches in the house. There's no way we will lose against one demon."

"Your arrogance is showing, Billie." Paige says, as she lifts her head for a brief moment staring at Billie, "That is what keeps getting you into trouble."

"I'm so bored!" Billie whines even louder than before.

Paige scoffs and leans her head backwards again. A crash is heard in the distance and Billie jumps up.

"What was that? Did you hear that?" Billie asks.

"No, you're just imagining things Billie. You can go relieve Phoebe of her baby duties though if you're that bored."

"Kill me now." Billie gripes.

"If you continue to complain and whine, I may very well honor your wish." Paige snaps.

"Paige?!" Phoebe yells from downstairs.

Paige and Billie shoot up from their seats and stare at each other.

"PAIGE!"

"Ok, go! Go!" Billie says running towards the door of the attic with Paige closely behind her.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Phoebe sits in the bedroom with Laylah, watching her intently. She stands up and walks closer to Laylah and sits next to her on the bed. She lifts her hand and slowly reaches over to Laylah and quickly withdraws, putting her hand back on her lap.

"Come on, Phoebe. What are you afraid of?" Phoebe whispers to herself. Laylah begins to whisper a few words and Phoebe stands up in shock. Phoebe runs to the door but stops herself and turns around. She walks towards Laylah cautiously and leans closer to hear what words slipped through her lips.

" _Dominus…_ " Laylah whispers still with her eyes closed.

"Huh?" Phoebe says to herself in confusion.

" _Trinus._ " Laylah whispers again.

" _Dominus Trinus…Dominus…..Trinus….Dominus Trinus..._ " Laylah repeats and then she suddenly stops whispering.

Phoebe takes a deep breath and releases a deep sigh. Her eyes examine Laylah's face and then looks down to her hands. Phoebe reaches for Laylah's hands once more but a crash is heard in the distance, which startles her. Phoebe stands up and walks towards the door and opens it. She creeps quietly into the hallway and looks around. She takes a few steps towards the steps leading up to the attic and sees a broken vase shattered on the ground next to her. She bends down to pick up the pieces when she suddenly pauses. She looks up and slowly turns around to see a man wearing leather clothing. Behind him, four more demons shimmer in armed with energy balls and weapons.

"Paige?!" Phoebe calls as she backs up slowly.

"Just give us what we came here for and I promise we'll make it quick and painless for you." The demon threatens with a smile.

"PAIGE!" Phoebe yells once more.

"Get her!" the demon orders as multiple energy balls fly towards Phoebe. Phoebe levitates into the air and flips over the demons and lands right in front of the door. The four demons rush and charge towards Phoebe and Phoebe spins and deliver a roundhouse kick, sending three of the demons flying back into their leader. She begins hand to hand combat with last demon standing before her, clutches his throat and begins to channel her electric power from her fingers into the demon. The demon begins to scream out loud as he ignites in flames and explodes immediately.

Paige and Billie finally arrive down at the base of the steps and sees Phoebe standing there with three demons. The demons form another energy ball and throw it at Billie and Paige. Billie lifts her hand and deflects it right back to the demon who conjured it, blasting him and vanquishing him on the spot. Paige waves her hand and the energy ball sent her way disappears from sight. The demons look around in confusion as the energy ball appears behind them and slams into one of them from behind. He bursts into flames and disappears, leaving nothing but an echo of his screams. The leader shimmers out of the hallway.

"Took you long enough!" Phoebe says out of breath.

"Well, what matters is we got here in time." Billie responds, "That was fun."

"Seriously?" Paige asks in disbelief.

"What? It was!" Billie defends herself.

"Do you think that was it or there are more on their way?" Paige asks.

As if on cue, about ten more demons shimmer in before them.

"Spoke too soon, sis." Phoebe says as she changes her stance into a defensive martial arts stance.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

With the school bell ringing, Wyatt steps into the hallway looking down at his class schedule to see what class he has next. He holds his schedule in one hand and his books in the other. As he looks down and walking at the same time, he crashes into another person and his books fall everywhere.

"What the hell!" he screams in frustration when he starts to pick up all the books on the floor.

"Maybe you should watch where you're going." The girl shoots back as she slowly picks up her books from the floor. Wyatt forms an angry response but the words fade from his mind when he lays his eyes on the dark haired, brown eyed beauty. With a tan complexion and a beautiful smile, Wyatt's anger subsides in a heartbeat.

"I'm sorry. I really am. Are you ok?" Wyatt asks as he helps her out with her books and helps her stand up.

"No, I'm fine. Really, I am."

"I'm Wyatt."

"Wyatt? You're the freshman that made the varsity football team?"

"Wait, I what?" Wyatt asks her, perplexed.

"Yeah, you're all everyone is talking about. You're the first freshman to do that in the history of the school. It's nice to put a face to the name. I'm Bianca." She finally introduces herself.

"Nice to meet you." Wyatt responds as he shakes her hand. Wyatt stares into her dark brown eyes and gets lost in them, unaware that he is still shaking her hand.

"Um, I'd like to have my hand back." Bianca laughs.

"Oh right! Of course." Wyatt blushes as he withdraws his hand in shame.

"It's cool. What are you doing after school?"

"Nothing really. Why do you ask?" Wyatt asks.

"Just wanted to see if you wanted to see the fight after school with me." Bianca offers.

"Fight? On the first day of school?"

"You'd be surprised." Bianca replies.

"Who is it?" Wyatt asks.

"Just Brian and some kid who pissed him off. You know Brian, right?" Bianca asks.

"I know who he is but don't really know him personally, no." Wyatt answers.

"Well, yeah. I feel bad for the poor unfortunate soul that has to endure that ass whooping." Bianca chuckles.

"Yeah." Wyatt agrees.

"Well, I've got to go. I have Biology next so I guess I'll see you after school." Bianca says as she walks away, waving at Wyatt.

"See you!" Wyatt waves back amorously. He takes a deep breath and sighs happily. The school bell rings once more and Wyatt snaps back to reality. He looks around to find himself standing in the hallway alone. He grabs the remaining books off of the floor and runs down the hallway in a hurry.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A blood curdling scream of a man can be heard accompanied with the sound of an explosion as a demon disappears in a fiery death. Standing behind him are Billie and Phoebe, who are covered in soot from all the numerous vanquishes.

"Not that I'm not grateful for the numerous demons we're facing but why are we facing them?" Billie asks.

"I don't know, maybe we should ask them" Paige answers.

"Yeah, right." Billie quips as she releases a small chuckle.

"No, seriously. We should ask them." Paige suggests.

"That's not a bad idea. We can find out who is sending them our way instead of waiting for Laylah to wake up." Phoebe notes.

"Ok, so what do we do?" Billie asks.

"Paige, orb Laylah into the attic so that we can all be in the same place and not be divided. We have to set a trap for the demons first." Phoebe states as she walks back into the room where Laylah is still asleep on the bed. Paige walks in with her and Billie stands at the door.

"How much time do we think we have more come after us?" Billie asks.

An abundance of demons shimmer into the hallway of the second floor. Billie sees the demons arriving.

"Ok, we've got company!" Billie warns.

"How many of them this time?" Phoebe asks.

"Like an army of demons." Billie replies.

"Stop over-exaggerating, Billie. How many of them? 10? 20?" Phoebe asks as Paige walks towards the door and her eyes widen at what she sees.

"Ok, she's not over-exaggerating." Paige says with fear in her voice. The demons all form energy balls and walk towards the witches. Paige instantly pulls Billie into the room and shuts the door. The door is pelted with energy balls, creating numerous holes.

Paige waves her hand at the door and a white shield rises and hovers over the door.

"What the hell was that?" Phoebe asks.

"Just a protection shield. It will hold the door for now." Paige answers.

"Ok, attic. Now! Now!" Phoebe orders as Paige grabs Laylah's arm and then Phoebe's and orbs everyone out of the room.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Paige orbs into the attic and gently lays Laylah onto the couch. Phoebe sits next to Laylah as Billie paces back and forth nervously.

"How the hell are we supposed to take on an army of demons? And how are we supposed to trap one of them?" Billie asks frantically.

"Billie, calm down." Phoebe says calmly.

"How can you be calm with demons swarming downstairs?" Billie asks with her voice shaking with anxiety.

"Weren't you the one praying for demons to fight an hour ago?" Paige asks, "We have faced worse odds and came out on top. We will be fine. Now relax."

"Easier said than done, Paige." Billie says with hysterically.

"Ugh Phoebe, do something about her." Paige pleads.

" _Me_? She's _your_ charge." Phoebe replies.

"She's the godmother to one of your children. That alone exceeds charge by a lot and it carries more weight." Paige argues.

"We need Piper." Billie interjects, "I think I'm going to call Piper."

"Billie, calm down!" Phoebe yells and Billie stops in her tracks for a minute. She turns her attention to her younger sister, "Do you know where Piper put the crystals?"

"I think so. Why?" Paige asks.

"We need to trap one of them in a crystal cage so find them." Phoebe orders. Paige nods and turns around. She walks to the chest and starts rummaging through them in search of the crystals that had served them so well in the past.

"How are we going to vanquish them all?" Billie continues to ramble, "You need the power of three for a mass vanquishing spell and Piper's not here. We need to summon Piper."

"We do not need Piper." Phoebe says confidently, "We got this. Now I just need you to get it together. This is not the Billie I know."

Billie looks into Phoebe's eyes and takes deep breaths.

"You're right." Billie exhales, "I'm better than this. I am stronger than this."

"That's right. Are you with me now?" Phoebe asks.

Billie nods as she gains her composure.

"Good." Phoebe smiles.

Paige runs up to Phoebe carrying a maroon colored box.

"Found the crystals. Now what?"

"Now we create the largest cage we have ever built." Phoebe says fearlessly.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

It is finally lunch time and Wyatt stands in the lunch line, getting ready to purchase himself a slice of pizza. He looks around to see the crowded cafeteria and tries to determine where he should sit and eat. After he buys his pizza, Wyatt walks around looking for a place to sit when a young man in a letterman jacket gestures to Wyatt, inviting him to their table. Wyatt takes a deep breath and sits down.

"There he is! The talk of the entire school!" he says as he pats Wyatt on the back. Many more people offer congratulatory pats and punches as Wyatt smiles nervously.

"From now on, you sit with us." He says, "This is your table."

"Thanks, but I don't even know who you all are." Wyatt says as he scans the faces surrounding him at the table.

"I'm Jesse." He begins, "That's Todd, Joey, Ray, Sam, Leanor, Eric, Jimmy and Johnny. And on the other side are the ladies who will be chasing you for the next four years of your life."

The table cheers loudly at that comment. Wyatt smiles and looks down.

"We got your back, just hang with us and you'll be good." Jesse advises.

"Will take that into consideration." Wyatt notes. Wyatt notices Dom standing around with his lunch tray, looking for a place to sit as well.

"Do you mind if I invite my friend to come sit with us?" Wyatt asks.

"Yeah, yeah! Sure!" Jesse says with a smile, "Whoever is cool with you is cool with us, you dig?"

"Hey, Dom!" Wyatt waves at Dominic, who begins to walk towards Wyatt but hesitates. Wyatt gestures him to come closer and Dom finally arrives at the table and sets his tray down.

"Hey, y'all." Dom says nervously.

"Sup?" Jesse greets as he stands up and everyone surrounding him stands up as well.

"We have to go but we'll catch you later." Jesse says, "You're going to the fight in the parking lot after school?"

"Yeah, I'm there." Wyatt answers.

"Cool. See you later, Halliwell." Jesse says as he walks away and the posse follows him.

"I see that you've already conquered high school, and you've only been here for only what? Four hours?" Dom says, impressed.

"I wouldn't say all of that." Wyatt blushes.

"You've got the sports, the jocks, the popularity…" Dom says, "The only thing missing is the girl."

Wyatt looks down and smiles.

"Don't tell me that you've already found the girl. Have you?"

"Kind of." Wyatt smiles as his face turns red.

"Man, I hate you." Dom laughs, "Everything comes easy to you. You're one lucky son of a bitch."

"You're over-exaggerating." Wyatt says, trying to downplay his luck.

"I'm serious." Dom says, "You're having fun on your first day and your brother is struggling."

"You don't seem to be struggling to me." Wyatt says as he takes a bite out of his pizza.

Wyatt and Dominic Frye have been best friends since Dominic moved across the street from Wyatt when they were five years old. They spent almost every waking moment together until Dominic ended up moving three years ago but that never affected their friendship. They grew closer to the point where even blood couldn't make them any closer. They referred to each other as brothers, and anyone with eyes would believe it due to their constant reactions and interactions with each other. Even Chris had moments where he grew envious of Dom and Wyatt's relationship but Dom always did well to remind Chris that he always fell third on Wyatt's priority list, right behind Chris and Melinda.

"Not me, man." Dom says as he takes sip of his soda, "I'm talking about Chris."

"Chris? Chris is still in junior high. What the hell are you talking about?" Wyatt asks, without a concern in his voice.

"The fight that everyone is talking about, that's Chris." Dom clarifies.

"That's not possible. Where did you hear this?"

"I saw him in the hallway earlier when Brian threatened him. I don't know why he's here but that's him." Dom explains. Wyatt stands up quickly in a panic.

"I've got to find him." Wyatt says as he grows apprehensive.

"Where? It's a big school with a lot of people on your first day. I bet you could barely find the bathroom."

"I don't care, Dom. It's my brother. I have to try." Wyatt says as he begins to walk away but Dom stops him.

"I got two questions for you." He begins, "Are you done with that piece of pizza because you know me, I don't like to waste food, especially pizza."

"Seriously?"

"As a heart attack." Dom answers, "And secondly, do you need some help? Two heads are better than one, you know?"

Wyatt smiles and nods. Dom nods in return and grabs the pizza. He jumps up and runs after Wyatt.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The demons grow rowdy as they continue to throw energy balls at the door. The demons growl out frustration as they continue to batter the door with energy balls. Paige and Billie orb behind the army of demons and quietly place three crystals flanking the mob of demons and one directly in front of them. Billie waves her hand and the crystals light up and turn invisible. Paige orbs out, leaving Billie standing behind them.

"Hello there." Billie says in a taunting manner. The demons turn around and face Billie.

Paige orbs in behind the demons and places three more crystals behind them. As soon as she places the final crystal down on the corner of the wall, Billie snaps her fingers and the remaining crystals disappear from sight. The white shield grows from the ground and covers the entire horde.

The demons throw energy balls at Billie, who stands before them wearing a wide smile. The energy balls bounce off of the cage and vanquish a large amount of demons immediately.

"Now, we will do our best to behave now, won't we?" Paige finally speaks. The demons turn around and face Paige instead. Conflicted, the demons look towards Billie and Paige realizing they're trapped.

Paige orbs out and orbs back in next to Billie.

"Nice work." Billie compliments.

"Could say the same about you." Paige shoots back.

"Let us go, witch!" one of the demons says in an effort to intimidate them, "Or else…"

"Which one of them should we interrogate?" Billie asks Paige in a mere whisper.

"How about the one who keeps threatening us?" Paige suggests.

"You read my mind." Billie smiles in agreement.

Paige waves her hand and one of the demons orb out of the cage.

"Where did you take him?" another one of the demons asks.

"Don't worry about it." Paige answers as she grabs Billie's hand and orbs out.

Billie and Paige orb back into the attic and stand next to Phoebe.

"Did it work?" Paige asks.

"See for yourself." Phoebe answers as she points to the demon standing in front of her, the same demon who was orbed from the second floor trapped in another crystal cage before them. The demon growls in anger as the girls smile reveling in their achievement.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The school bell rings for the final time for the day, signaling the freedom of the teens as they run out of the building that held them prisoner for the last seven hours. Wyatt runs through the crowd, searching frantically for his brother to no avail. He sees Dom across the way and runs to join him.

"Any luck?" Wyatt asks.

"Nah, man. I'm thinking the only way we can get to him is when he meets up with Brian." Dom suggests.

"No, that's too late." Wyatt replies.

"We don't have any other choice, Wyatt."

Wyatt looks around frantically, his eyes searching through the crowd for his little brother. He looks down at his hands and his hands tremble with anxiety.

"Didn't think you were going to show up." Brian's voice can be heard saying loudly over the buzzing of the crowd.

Wyatt looks up and sees the crowd parting and Chris approaching. He looks at Dom who shoots him a hopeless look. Wyatt shakes his head and dashes towards Chris. He runs up to Chris and grabs his arm.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Wyatt whispers to his brother angrily.

"You already know what's going on so please let me go." Chris pleads.

"I can't let you go. He'll kill you." Wyatt warns.

"I don't need your protection, Wyatt." Chris echoes to his brother. Wyatt stares deep into Chris's eyes and his grip on his arm weakens. Chris gives Wyatt a reassuring nod and a smile.

"Halliwell, what are you doing?" Brian yells, "Do you know this loser?"

Wyatt doesn't avert his gaze, which is still fixated on Chris. "Yeah, he's my brother."

"Wait, what?!" Brian asks in surprise. The crowd murmurs with curiosity. Wyatt steps aside and stands next to Chris.

"Yeah, he's my brother." Wyatt says with pride with his arms folded. Brian walks closer to Chris, staring at him deep in his eyes and then stares at Wyatt angrily.

"Yeah, I don't see the resemblance." Brian says with a scoff. He turns to Chris one more time.

"You're lucky because your brother just saved you from an ass whooping." Brian says as he backs up. He turns around and walks away.

"That was it? This was the hyped fight we've been waiting for all day?" a boy in the crowd asks.

"Just shut up and go home. Ain't you got something better to do?" Dom asks as he pushes past the boy and joins Wyatt and Chris.

"You didn't have to do that." Chris says to Wyatt angrily.

"Yes I did. I'm my brother's keeper, remember?" Wyatt answers with a smile, "Besides, the only person allowed to kick your ass is me."

Chris's scowl subsides and he flashes a weak smile in return.

"So why are on this side of the school?" Dom asks Chris.

"I go to school here now. I skipped the eighth grade." Chris answers.

"Really, that's dope man." Dom screams as he pats Chris on the back.

"Let's get out of here." Wyatt suggests as he walks away.

"Uncle Henry has to be around here somewhere to give us a ride home." Chris says.

"Even better." Wyatt says.

"Can I catch a ride home with y'all?" Dom asks.

"Do you even need to ask that? You already know the answer." Chris answers.

"Cool." Dom says as the three boys walk away from the school.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Who sent you?!" Billie yells as she stands toe to toe with the demon encased in the crystal cage.

"Vanquish me, witch." The demon responds calmly.

"There are fates worse than death, my friend." Billie replies, "Do you really want to find out?"

The demon releases a low growl.

"Billie?" Phoebe, who is standing behind her in the attic, calls her.

"What happened?" Billie asks as she marches towards Phoebe.

"It has been three hours, Billie and he hasn't broken yet." Paige sighs.

"I know. Give it time, we are just as patient as he is, right?" Billie ponders.

"I'm not that patient." Phoebe says as she reaches for the salt in Billie's palm. She walks up to the demon and she sprinkles some salt on the crystal. The crystal glows and the cage emit an electrical shock which zaps the demon. The demon screams and falls to his knees.

"Now, this is what's about to happen." Phoebe whispers to the demon as she squats down to the demon's eye level, "Downstairs is filled with your demon friends trapped in the same cage you are. You don't want to talk? Fine. We will vanquish you and then grab another one from the pile. The process will go on and on until one of you tells us what we want to hear. So if I were you, I'd want to speak up."

"What's the point if you're going to end up vanquishing me anyway? You're not going to let me go out of the kindness of your heart if I answered your questions anyway." The demon says.

"He's got a point there." Paige jokes.

"Shush!" Phoebe snaps, "I may just spare you and save your life."

"Phoebe?" Paige says questionably.

"You wouldn't do that." The demon says in doubt.

"Are you sure? I'm a woman of my word." Phoebe whispers to the demon.

"Phoebe!" Paige calls loudly.

"What?!"

"Sidebar!" Paige says sternly.

Phoebe stands up and walks towards Billie and Paige.

"You can't be serious. You're making a deal with a demon?" Billie asks.

"Yes. At this point, we don't have a choice. We either wait until Laylah wakes up or we can do this now. The demon is a small fish in a large pond. We have bigger fish to fry and if he gets us to where we need to go, what's the harm of promising him freedom?"

"Phoebe, I don't think that's a good idea." Billie says.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Phoebe asks. Billie looks at Paige. Paige doesn't answer and shrugs.

"Ok. That's what I thought." Phoebe says as she walks back to the demon. "So, what do you say?"

The demon considers it for a second.

"Tick tock." Phoebe sings to the demon.

"Ok, ok!" the demon finally yields, "We received word from our leader to raid the Charmed Ones' home."

"And who gave your leader the order?" Billie asks as she walks closer to the cage.

The demon stares at the girls, contemplating as suspense builds in the attic.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

As the demons get rowdier and rowdier in the cage downstairs on the second floor, their leader remains unusually calm. One of the other demons realizes this and approaches him.

"What's going on, boss? What do we do?" he asks.

"Just be patient. This will be all over soon." The leader replies.

"That's what it's looking like. The witches are going to vanquish us all." The demon whispers.

The leader doesn't answer. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. His minion watches anxiously as three new demons shimmer into the hallway, outside of the cage. The leader opens his eyes and smiles.

The demons look around and form energy balls. They hurl the energy balls towards the cage and it bounces back towards them. They shimmer out of the way and the energy balls hit the wall behind them, leaving scorch marks. The demons shimmer back into the hallway.

"The crystals have been enchanted. Curse the spell to remove the enchantment." The leader explains.

The demons whisper an incantation in Latin and the white glow of the cage turns red and disappears. The leader of the demons cautiously reaches his arm out to touch the invisible barrier but nothing happens. His smile grows as he steps comfortably away from the group, realizing that the cage has been disabled.

"What's the move now?" his minion asks.

The leader looks towards the stairs leading to the attic and smiles.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Ok, he's not going to tell us anything so let's just vanquish him and call it a day." Billie says out of frustration.

"You've got about ten seconds to tell us what we want to hear or she vanquishes you." Paige threatens.

"No, screw that! Five seconds…" Billie begins to count down, "four…three…two…"

"The person who sent us after you is Ab…" he begins to say but the demons begin to shimmer in one by one. The front door swings open and numerous demons come running in. The demons who shimmer in kick the crystals from their position, deactivating the cage. The leader walks up to the previously incarcerated demon and grabs him by the neck.

"I didn't say anything! I promise!" the demon pleads.

"You almost did." The leader replies, as he squeezes the demon's throat until he explodes out of sight.

"Uh oh." Paige mumbles as she looks at her sister and Billie, also in shock.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper's car pulls up into the drive way of the Halliwell manor and Henry's car pulls up and parks on the street. The doors swing open and the twins, Junior, Wyatt, Chris and Mellie jump out of the car. Piper walks to the sidewalk and hugs her daughter.

"Hey! How was the first day of school?" Piper asks.

"It was great, mom! Tricia and the twins are in the same classes as I am." Mellie says.

"Really?" Piper says in surprise, "Where is she?"

"Uncle Coop took them home." Penny answers.

"I'm also running for class president." Mellie shouts.

"Are you really?" Piper gasps, "I'm so proud of you!"

The whole crew climb the steps to the front door and Piper opens the door. The whole crew walk into the Manor and Piper shuts the door.

"What about you guys?" Piper asks the rest of the crew.

"Nothing happened." Chris answers.

"Chris is in high school now." Wyatt announces to Chris's dismay.

"Excuse me?" Piper asks in surprise.

"It's not a big deal, mom. Don't worry about it." Chris says, unenthused.

"He's trying to downplay it as if it's not a big deal but yeah…" Wyatt explains.

"How?" Piper asks.

"He skipped a grade because he was apparently too advanced to be held back in middle school." Wyatt explains.

"Don't they have to notify us about this or something?" Piper asks.

"They tried but you guys never responded." Chris finally answers.

"Congrats, Chris! We have to celebrate." Piper suggests, "What do you want to eat?"

"Cake? Pie?" Mellie shouts suggestions when the chandelier lights flicker, an explosion is heard and the house shakes for a little bit. The entire crew downstairs stare at the ceiling and then at each other.

"Are Paige and Phoebe still here?" Piper asks.

"Their cars were still parked outside." Henry answers.

Piper walks swiftly towards the stairs, heading towards the attic.

"Stay here!" Piper shouts as she runs up the stairs.

Henry looks at the kids and runs up the stairs after her.

"Stay here!" he orders the kids.

Wyatt and Chris look at each other and then run up the stairs. Mellie, Penny, Gabby and Junior run up the stairs after them.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Blue and white orbs flying in the air, electricity striking and screaming can be heard in the attic. The demons throw multiple energy balls in the direction of the witches but energy balls are either deflected back towards the demons, causing them to explode or they disappear and have the energy balls hit the walls.

Phoebe, Billie and Paige hide behind a couch discussing battle plans. Laylah's body lies on a couch behind them.

"We are outnumbered. Deflecting and vanquishing the demons one by one is not doing a whole lot right now." Paige says with a hint of worry in her tone.

"We need Piper for a power of three spell." Phoebe says.

"I think that has already been established, but the problem is she is not here." Billie quips.

"Paige, orb and go find her and come back." Phoebe orders but Paige refuses to move.

"I'm not leaving you guys here to be demonic chow. We got to hold them off for a little while longer." Paige says.

"We can't do this anymore, it's either a single mass vanquish or we bail." Billie says.

"Paige, can you sense where Piper is?" Phoebe asks.

Paige nods and closes her eyes. In a brief minute, she opens her eyes.

"Well?" Phoebe asks.

"She's here." Paige answers.

"Hey!" Piper's voice can be heard on the other side. Paige, Phoebe and Billie stand up from behind the couch and sees Piper standing on the other side. Piper begins to thrust her hands forward as she causes one explosion after the other.

"Now can we cast a mass vanquishing spell?" Paige asks.

"Yeah…" Phoebe says happily.

Wyatt, Chris, Mellie, Junior, the twins and Henry show up behind Piper.

"What are they doing here?!" Paige asks in a panic, "Henry, please take them away from here."

"I'm trying but you try to be a mortal trying to wrangle three witches." Henry answers.

"You're their father. That makes you more powerful than they are!" Paige yells.

Gabby looks to her father and then her mother. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath as she steps forward. As she raises her hands, a gust of wind exudes from her palms and knocks the demons on their back, piling up in the corner of the attic. She shoots a large beam of electricity from her fingertips, which light up all the demons in the attic. Screaming in agony, the demons all engulf in flames and explode in a fiery death. Gabby lowers her hands and steps back next to her father and sister.

"What the hell was that?" Paige asks.

"I believe your daughter just saved our lives." Phoebe answers as she walks closer to the kids and Henry. She walks over to Gabby and hugs her tightly.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Phoebe says as she smothers Gabby with kisses.

"That's some kind of power she's got." Billie whispers to Piper.

"Yeah, it's something all right." Piper mutters back.

Paige walks to Gabby and smiles warmly. Gabby leaves Phoebe's arms and run into her mother's arms.

"I'm so sorry, mom." She apologizes once more.

"No, I'm sorry." she responds as she brushes her daughter's hair with her hand mid-hug.

Everyone in the attic looks at each other with smiles and then watches Paige and Gabrielle hug it out.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The sun rises over the Bay and the rays streak over the waters, leaving glistening spark-like lights dancing on the surface. The Halliwell Manor is seen as the dawn breaks and the sky begins to light up. Inside, Phoebe and Paige sit in the attic and Piper walks in shortly after. She sits next to Paige and Phoebe sits next to Laylah. Piper looks at her sisters and then her eyes shift to Laylah, who is still unconscious.

"So when do you think she's going to wake up?" Piper asks.

"Who knows? All I know is that something is happening but we won't know for sure unless she wakes up or…" Paige begins to say but she pauses.

"Or what?" Phoebe asks.

"Or we go into the underworld and ask some questions ourselves." Paige concludes.

"Paige…" Piper begins to say but Paige stops her.

"Billie is right. We have been hiding for far too long and apparently, demons know us. They know our tactics, they know how we fight, they know who we are and what's going on and we don't. They have the upper hand and waiting for them to attack makes this problem worse than it is." Paige explains, "We can't sit and wait any longer otherwise we're sitting ducks, like we were last night."

"She's right." Phoebe comments, which elicits a surprised look from Piper.

"What?" Piper asks.

"Paige is right. The longer we do nothing, the worse this problem grows and it becomes an even bigger problem down the line for us to deal with in the future. You know it always comes to down to the Charmed Ones having to save the day so yeah, they're right. Obviously something is happening and we have to figure out what that is. Finding this out for ourselves may help us nip it in the bud before it gets out of control." Phoebe notes.

"I hate this but I guess you're right." Piper finally gives in.

"Yeah." Phoebe whispers as she turns to look at Laylah, "Right before the swarm of demons attacked, she started whispering something."

"What was she saying?" Piper asks.

"Dominus Trinus?" Phoebe answers, "I don't know what that is but it sounded familiar like I should know what that is."

"Dominus Trinus? I think I heard it before too." Paige says.

"Really?" Piper asks.

"Yeah, a few years ago when we went to the Elder plane and we started fighting with Rosier and the Elders and I got knocked out, a man came to me in my unconscious state and he kept saying those words, ' _Dominus Trinus_ ' but I never figured out what that meant." Paige explains.

"Something is definitely going on, and I think it is time we joined the fray." Phoebe concludes.

Piper takes a deep breath and sighs, "If we are truly back for good, then the first order of business is…"

Piper stands up and walks to the opposite side of the attic and uncovers a hidden compartment in the attic wall. She removes the cover and reveals a safe. She spins the dial to the respective combination numbers and then she whispers a few words as the safe glows. She grabs the handle and looks at her sisters once more. She opens the safe and takes out an ancient book, the familiar dark green leather bound tome with the colorful bookmarkers. Phoebe and Paige stand up and walk towards the podium. Piper carries the book to the podium and stands between her sisters as she places the Book of Shadows in its rightful place, in the center of the podium.

"I missed her so much." Phoebe whispers as she touches it. Paige touches the cover of the book as well and the Book begins to glow, emitting a golden color and a minor golden force field grows and the sisters back up in confusion. The Book shoots a golden beam and strikes Laylah. Laylah's eyes open wide as she inhales sharply. She coughs and tries to catch her breath.

"Oh my God." Phoebe says as she covers her mouth in shock.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

On Angel Island, Abaddon sits on his throne, slouched and bored. A demon shimmers in before him and kneels.

"My lord." He says as he bows his head.

"Speak." Abaddon answers calmly.

"The word is that Egan and his entire cluster were vanquished by the Charmed Ones last night." The demon announces.

"The _entire_ cluster?" Abaddon questions, trying to make sure he is not mistaken.

"Yes, my lord. He went in their home with the entire cluster as his back up and they fell off our demonic radar sometime shortly after the sun set."

"That will be all." Abaddon waves his hand and the demon shimmers out of sight. Another demon walks into the throne room and falls on one knee with his head bowed.

"My Lord."

"What is it?" Abaddon asks.

"Sebastian. He's been found." The demon answers.

Abaddon's eyes widen as he sits up. Sebastian walks in shortly after, carrying a satchel. He walks before Abaddon and falls on bended knee.

"Rise. Rise!" he says with enthusiasm as he stands up.

"I heard you have been busy in my absence, my lord." Sebastian says respectfully as he stands up as well.

"Yes I have."

"What was the purpose of you sending those demons after the witches, pray tell?" Sebastian asks.

"I wanted to see how much can be thrown at the witches and how much they can handle." Abaddon answers.

"And what did you find?"

"They are more powerful than I gave them credit for. The best way to defeat these witches is not to face them head on; the best way is to find their strength, exploit their weakness and use that to my advantage." Abaddon explains.

"Have you figured out what their strengths and weaknesses are?" Sebastian asks.

"Not yet, but I know how I can find out…through you." Abaddon smiles.

"How are you going to proceed, my lord?" Sebastian asks.

"For starters, it depends on if you brought me what I asked of you." Abaddon says as he walks closer. Sebastian looks down at the satchel. He takes the strap from around his shoulder and hands it to Abaddon. Abaddon eagerly digs his hand in the satchel and takes the item out.

"Like I told you, it wasn't going to be in the best condition." Sebastian notes.

"Don't be foolish, it's beautiful!" Abaddon says, mesmerized. He walks to the table behind his throne and places the item in the center. The item is burned and charred beyond recognition and yet Abaddon was mesmerized as if he was reunited with the goddess, Aphrodite. He clenches his fist and a purple glow engulfs his right fist until the gauntlet appears. He places his hand on the item and the purple energy flows from his arm into the item. Pieces of the charred artifact falls off until the book begins to glow.

"Glorious, isn't it?!" Abaddon screams in excitement.

Sebastian watches in awe as Abaddon withdraws his hand and the gauntlet disappears. The red glow disappears and the brown leather skin forms and the leaves of the page turning black. The symbol on the book: an inverted pentagram with snakes and skulls is seen.

Abaddon picks up the Book and opens the book to the first page which reads: **GRIMOIRE**.

FADE TO BLACK

END OF EPISODE.

Guest Starring:

Kaley Cuoco as Billie

Ivan Sergei as Henry

Victor Webster as Coop

Geoff Stults as Sebastian

Sarah Jane Morris as Laylah

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Junior

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

Isabela Moner as Bianca

Hal Ozsan as Abaddon

Curtis Harris as Dominic Frye

Hayes Grier as Brian Maddox

Eve Plumb as Principal Dawson


	4. 10x04: Twihard With a Vengeance (1)

_**Author's Note: Due to the feedback I received after my last story, I have decided from this moment forward, I am going to upload my stories in halves, just so that you guys can take it all in and not be overwhelmed by the length of the my chapters/episodes. This also gives me a chance to write the stories and upload them faster instead of writing the stories which usually takes me a week to complete. Thanks for your feedback, faves and follows. They are noted and appreciated. Hope you enjoy!**_

 **10x04: Twihard with a Vengeance (Part 1)**

A blue and white light shines brightly against the dimly lit rocky walls of the underworld and disappears just as quickly as it appeared. Paige and Billie walk in from around the corner with Paige wielding a flash light in one hand and a dagger in the other while Billie carrying a satchel filled potion with the strap swung over her shoulder. The crunch of the gravel can be heard with every step they take as they cautiously look around, minding their surroundings.

"I mean it sounds reasonable, right?" Billie asks an already annoyed Paige, "I am not just making stuff up, right?"

"Billie, I…"

"It's ridiculous! Any other woman would've been gone in a heartbeat but I stayed with him." Billie says.

"I never knew you were one of the women who were concerned about this type of issue." Paige finally gets her word in.

"I'm not but every woman in their right mind cannot ignore it for too long." Billie responds.

The women continue to walk casually through the underworld in a moment of silence that lasts three seconds.

"I don't know how many hints I have to drop for him to actually get it." Billie rants.

Paige takes a deep breath and stops walking. Billie keeps walking and ranting but then realizes that Paige is no longer strolling by next to her. She stops and turns around.

"What happened?" Billie asks.

"First of all, this issue that you have with Jerry, you need to talk to him about it. You're complaining to me about him not popping the question after being together for 9 years…"

"10 years…" Billie corrects her.

"10 years but you forget that five years ago, he asked you to marry him. I still don't know why you didn't accept it then." Paige wonders.

"I was in my twenties; I was straight out of college with no job. I was not in a position to get married." Billie defends herself.

"Getting engaged doesn't mean it is a guarantee to get married the next day. You could've been engaged this entire time, waited until you were ready to get married but you didn't and now you're here complaining about him doing what you asked him to do."

"You're supposed to be taking my side, Paige." Billie says softly.

"I am on your side but I'm being reasonable. If you are really serious about this, then you should take matters into your own hands and ask him." Paige suggests.

"I don't know…" Billie begins to blush.

"I've already said my piece, Billie. Take it or leave it. Now, let's finish doing what we came down here to do." Paige says as she starts walking again and Billie follows her.

"We've been cruising the underworld for the entire week and we have found nothing. This is pointless." Billie complains.

"Exactly..." Paige says, as she scans the nearby cave with her flashlight, "We have gone through the entire underworld and we have yet to come across a demon, a warlock, a darklighter, anything. That alone speaks in volumes. Something major is going on and we need to figure out what it is before it's too late."

"Do you think Laylah knows anything about it?" Billie asks.

"Well, when she decides to finally end her silent treatment and say something, we will know by then. Until then, we continue hunting and patrolling the underworld." Paige replies.

"Great…" Billie says with her voice devoid of enthusiasm.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The night is darker than usual due to the darkened new moon blending flawlessly in the sky. Wyatt and Dom walk down the sidewalk, approaching a dark maroon colored house where muffled hip hop music can be heard throughout the neighborhood. As they get closer, the music and the crowd in the house grow louder.

"Just thirty minutes. We go in and we go out, that's it!" Wyatt says as he crosses the street to the side where the house party is located.

"Thirty minutes, I promise." Dom repeats as he throws his hand over Wyatt's shoulder and draws him closer, "This is our first high school party, and you know that this is not going to be the last. Just relax."

"I am relaxed but this is on a school night and my mom doesn't know I'm out of the house. She said no and I'm out here anyway. She's going to kill me when she finds out." Wyatt says nervously.

"You guys are so neurotic, you know that? She's not going to find out. That's what you have Chris there for. He's got your back, right?" Dom asks.

"Yeah, but if I get caught, he goes down too."

Dom and Wyatt stop walking and Dom turns to face Wyatt.

"You're always telling me about sacrifices must be made for the greater good. This is a worthy sacrifice worth making. Your reputation is good but your attendance at this party will make it catapult. Come on, Wy!" Dom persuades, "Who knows, maybe Bianca will be there."

"Thirty minutes…" Wyatt says softly. He looks at his watch and it reads 9:47 pm.

"Thirty minutes." Dom says as his smile grows. The boys continue to walk towards the house.

Moments later, the front door opens and Wyatt and Dom walk inside. The house is crowded with teenagers and the music was loud enough to drown out any voice that made an attempt at communication. Wyatt stares at Dom nervously, who stares back at Wyatt with a grin so wide Cheshire cat would've beamed with pride. The pair struggle to make their way to the center of the party but the crowd separates them.

Wyatt searches frantically for Dom but to no avail. He retreats to the corner of the wall and leans against it as he scans the room to have a better view. He sees Dom walking through the crowd, holding hands with a blonde girl leading him away. Dom excitedly points to the girl and gives Wyatt a thumbs-up. Wyatt laughs and shakes his head in amusement.

"Well, didn't expect to see you here." Bianca says as she leans against the wall next to Wyatt.

"Why do you say that?" Wyatt says, screaming loud enough to make his voice heard.

"I don't know; this doesn't seem like your type of scene." Bianca screams back.

"You're not wrong." Wyatt admits, "Dom forced me to come here."

"And how did he force you to come here?" Bianca asks.

"By preying on a teenager's hopes and dreams." Wyatt answers.

"Really? And what would that be?"

"Hoping to see you here." Wyatt answers without hesitation. He catches himself and looks around, "Who said that?"

Bianca laughs as she tucks her hair behind her right ear, "I'm flattered."

Wyatt stutters and looks down smiling.

"I've been here for the past hour so I have to bail. I'll see you in the morning at school?" Bianca screams.

"Of course. You know where to find me." Wyatt replies back.

Bianca leans in and plants a kiss on Wyatt's cheek. She walks away and looks back, waving goodbye to him with a smile. Wyatt waves back and leans back against the wall. His eyes close as his smile grows.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The bedroom door opens and Dom walks in with a young blonde and pale skin as white as snow. She closes the door behind her and smiles at Dom.

"Um, what are we doing back here? I thought we were going into the closet, like on some seven minutes in heaven type of deal, you know?" Dom rambles, "The bedroom is a bit much for me."

"Don't worry." The girl says quietly as she walks towards Dom, "It won't get that far."

She wraps her arms around Dom and gently kisses him, who has his eyes wide open. His eyes begin to close as he loses the urge to fight and he finally gives in. Dom flinches as he pulls away.

"You bit my lip." Dom says as he pulls his bottom lip and sees a little bit of blood pooling.

"I thought that turned you on." the girl says.

"I'm not used to it but I can dig it." Dom says as he leans closer and begins to kiss her again.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Wyatt stands in the same spot he was standing in, leaning against the wall with a cup in his hand. He looks at his watch and it reads 10:56 pm. He looks up and scans the room once more looking for his friend.

"Where the hell is he?" Wyatt mutters to himself. He walks away from the wall and in an instant, he feels a hand grab onto his shoulders from behind. Wyatt jumps and drops the cup filled with punch, spilling everywhere. He turns around and sees Dom standing behind him.

"What the hell, man?!" Wyatt scolds him.

"You alright?" Dom laughs.

"Yeah, you just scared me. I was just coming to look for you." Wyatt says, "What happened with the blonde girl you were with?"

"Nothing, just some kissing." Dom says with a smile as he touches his lips gently.

" _Just_ kissing? Are you sure?" Wyatt asks suspiciously.

"Trust me, if anything else happened, I wouldn't be holding back." Dom laughs.

"Ok, we've been here for over an hour. We've got to go." Wyatt says.

"Right behind you." Dom says as he follows Wyatt towards the front door.

An older woman in her late thirties-early forties stands in the shadows on the balcony of the building where the party is taking place. She watches Wyatt and Dom walking on the sidewalk away.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Created by: Constance M. Burge

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The sun rises slowly over the Bay and the light slowly touches everything in sight, a little bit reminiscent of the sun rising over Pride Rock. The city of San Francisco is quiet but that quickly changes as the sunlight illuminates the street. The Golden Gate Bridge is crowded with many cars on their morning commute to work and finally the Victorian Manor can be seen.

Leo sits in the dining room reading the newspaper with Mellie sitting right next to him. Mellie is coloring her flyers which reads, "Melinda 4 Class President." Wyatt sits across from Mellie, trying his hardest to stay awake but his eyelids are too heavy to stay open and his head bobs with every loud noise Mellie makes. Chris runs down the stairs and heads to the dining room.

"Good morning, son!" Leo greets without taking his eyes off the page.

"Good morning dad." Chris replies, "Good morning, Mel!"

Mellie continues to color and does not respond.

"Earth to Mel?" Chris calls to his sister but nothing happens.

"Ok." Chris walks around and sits next to Wyatt. Chris grabs an apple and then slaps Wyatt on the back of his neck, causing Wyatt to jump up.

"Good morning, bro." Chris laughs.

"That's not funny." Wyatt growls.

"Then why am I laughing?" Chris says as he takes a bite out of the apple and smiles.

"Why are you so tired?" Mellie asks. Leo lowers the newspaper and stares at Wyatt.

"Stayed up all night doing homework." Wyatt answers nervously.

"Homework all night, huh?" Leo asks suspiciously.

"Yes, dad." Wyatt answers. Wyatt places his palm underneath his chin and closes his eyes.

"Right, if you say so." Leo says as he lifts up the newspaper and continues reading.

The front door swings open and Phoebe and Paige walk in with their children.

"Good morning, Halliwell family!" Phoebe greets loudly.

"Good morning." Leo responds, "What brings you guys here so early?"

"We figured that since the kids all go to the same school now, might as well carpool." Paige answers.

"None of you have a carpool friendly car though." Leo quips.

"Well, Piper does." Phoebe shoots back as she playfully hits Leo on his shoulder.

"Where is Piper anyway?" Paige asks.

"Upstairs." Mellie answers.

"We'll be right back, ok?" Phoebe says to her kids as she walks towards the stairs with Paige following her.

Tricia walks next to Mellie and sees her posters and she scoffs.

"What's so funny?" Mellie asks.

"Your posters." Tricia answers, "Nobody does handmade flyers anymore. You could have created these flyers with half the effort in half the time with a computer and it will look better than this."

"I don't own a computer." Mellie says.

"I own a laptop. I can help you design one and then make copies at school." Tricia offers as places her bag on the ground, takes out her laptop and places it on the table.

"I can help you too, Mel!" Chris offers but Mellie stares at him for a quick second with no emotion and then focuses on Tricia.

"That would be great." Mellie answers happily, "Hey, do you want to be my campaign manager?"

"Sure. I have nothing better to do anyway." Tricia answers.

"Cool."

"What's up with Wyatt?" Gabby asks as she walks closer to him.

"Too much homework." Mellie answers.

"So you can answer everyone but not answer me, Mel?" Chris asks but Mellie doesn't pay him any mind.

"Guess he's not talking to you." Paisley says as she reaches for a bagel on the table, "Can you help me toast and add cream cheese?"

"I got you, sis." Paris says as she grabs her sister's hand and walks to the kitchen.

Chris stares at Mellie who converses with Tricia about her flyers.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper sits on the couch in the attic with the Book of Shadows on her lap, quietly thumbing through the pages as she sips her cup of coffee. She is wearing her pajamas and a bathrobe with her hair tied up in a messy bun. Phoebe and Paige walk into the attic and sit on the chair front and beside her.

"Hey, Piper. What are you doing?" Phoebe asks.

"Same old, just research." Piper says as she takes a sip of her coffee.

"Any luck?" Paige asks.

"Nope." Piper says sternly, "Not in the book, and not with Laylah."

"What exactly are you looking for in the book, honey?" Phoebe asks.

"Whatever this Dominus Trinus thing is. I can't seem to find it anywhere." Piper says, trying her hardest to keep her frustration at a minimum.

"Give it time. She'll talk to us when she's ready." Paige says coolly in an effort to comfort her.

"I guess you're right." Piper says as she puts the book aside and finally looks at her sisters, "Any luck with the late night underworld cruise with Billie?"

"Nope. Still radio silent."

"I wonder what that means." Phoebe wonders.

"We could find out if Laylah could say something but it's been a week since she woke up and I don't get why she's giving us the silent treatment. If she doesn't want to talk, she can just leave." Piper says, showing her agitation.

"Nothing in this life that we live is ever that easy, Piper and you know it." Phoebe says.

"What's the next step?" Paige asks.

"We can find the island where the kids rescued Laylah from again." Piper suggests.

"No, we have already tried that. It has disappeared from sight and all kinds of radar, both magical and human." Phoebe notes.

"It's been shielded by magic, that's the only explanation. I feel like if it has been found once before, it can be found once again." Piper says.

"Ok, so I think I'm going to team up with Billie and see if we can come up with another approach to this dilemma and I'll keep you guys updated." Paige offers.

"Ok, that will be great." Piper smiles.

Paige stands up and walks out of the attic, leaving Phoebe alone with Piper. Phoebe grabs Piper's hand into her own and stares into her sister's eyes.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Phoebe asks.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Piper says as she pats Phoebe's hand gently and smiles, "We just can't give up."

"We won't." Phoebe says.

"You look over dressed for someone who is not going anywhere, or am I wrong?" Piper says as she looks at Phoebe's attire.

"I'm going into the Bay Mirror for the interview." Phoebe replies.

"You gave in?"

"Yeah, I figure that a little Q and A won't hurt, right?" Phoebe smiles nervously.

"Right." Piper whispers as she stands up, "I got to get ready to take the kids to school."

"I can take them if you want me to." Phoebe says, "You can stay home and relax."

"Are you sure?" Piper asks.

"Yeah, as long as I can use your car to drop them off and go to the interview, I don't mind." Phoebe states.

"Ok, thank you." Piper says as she walks back to the couch and sits down as Phoebe stands up. Phoebe turns around and walks away but stops and turns to her sister.

"Don't let this thing consume you." Phoebe advises.

Piper flashes Phoebe a weakened smile. Phoebe walks out of the attic, leaving an exhausted Piper to her thoughts. She takes a deep breath and sighs. She looks to her side and sees the Book of Shadows lying on the cushion of the couch. She picks it up and begins to read through it again as the image of the Triquetra on the cover is the last image seen.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A flash leads us to a book of a similar build but serves an entirely different purpose. The leather bound grimoire with its inverted pentagram with snakes and skulls embedded into the symbol contains the darkest of spells, curses, incantations and rituals. Abaddon used it once to coronate the first Source of All evil centuries ago, and the same book was used to coronate Cole Turner as the successor of the Source he crowned himself. A dark priest tried to coronate another as the Source before the Charmed Ones vanquished him and all those in the vicinity of the grimoire; and then finally asking their whitelighter to get rid of the Grimoire. Leo hid the Grimoire in a mountain of rock in the West Andes, hopefully safe from the prying hands of evil beings everywhere.

Yet, Abaddon sat on his throne reading through the Grimoire like a storybook with elation. Sebastian walks into the throne room and bows before him before approaching him.

"I trust everything is to your satisfaction?" Sebastian asks.

"It's everything and more!" Abaddon says with glee, "I can't believe I wrote all of this. I forgot how much knowledge I possessed and how much information I wrote in here!"

"Well, it has become a well sought out book since the demise of the first Source so I would imagine so." Sebastian says.

"This was my journal. Every evil spell, curse or incantation ever created is in here. I even wrote stuff I don't remember creating. Within these blackened pages are my hopes and dreams; the plans I had before my imprisonment. This is my most prized possession." Abaddon raves.

"So what is the next course of action, my lord? Do you want me to arrange the ceremony for your coronation or…?"

"Coronation?" Abaddon asks as he takes closes the book and stares at Sebastian, "Why would I want a coronation?"

"I assumed that was the reason why you wanted the book, my lord." Sebastian answers in confusion.

"No, my dear child." Abaddon laughs, "That's the problem with you all that tried to rule the underworld. You fail to see the big picture."

Abaddon stands up and places the Book on the table.

"This book contains much more than a ritual for a coronation. It has the spell to help me initiate my plan; the spell to find the weapon that I need to help me achieve worldwide domination."

"My apologies, my lord." Sebastian bows his head once more, "What about the witches? What do you plan to do with them?"

"What about them?" Abaddon asks.

"If you plan to initiate your plan, they will find a way to stop you. They're pretty good at thwarting plans." Sebastian warns.

"What do you propose I do in regards to the witches?" Abaddon asks.

"Seeing as how you have access to the Grimoire, you could end their lives so they won't be an obstacle in the future." Sebastian advices.

"Sebastian, let me ask you something…" Abaddon begins, "What is the survival rate of demonic entities that approached the witches head on?"

"Very low, sir. Practically non-existent." Sebastian answers.

"Exactly. In order to defeat these witches once and for all, I must imbue myself with more power, and then learn their weaknesses for my offense and their strengths for my defense. Does that make sense?"

"Yes, my lord." Sebastian answers.

"Good."

"Is there anything you need me to do?" Sebastian asks.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, there is." Abaddon says as he walks closer to Sebastian, "In order to end the Charmed Ones, I need to learn all there is to know about them."

"How do you intend to do that?" Sebastian asks.

"Through you." Abaddon says with a smile, "You are the offspring of Tempus and Atropos. You are the son of one of the Fate sisters. They had the power to see the past, present and future. You possess the same gift but with the power of your father's manipulation of time, you can transfer my consciousness through time and with that, I will be able to witness the Charmed Ones from their childhood until now. I will be able to see what makes them strong, see what makes them weak, what makes them tick and what makes them weep. With that, I'll be able to destroy them emotionally and then physically."

"No demon has been able to accomplish that before." Sebastian says.

"Well then it's a good thing I'm a god, not a demon." Abaddon says smoothly. He walks to the table and hovers his hand over the book. The book opens and begins to flip through the black pages telekinetically. Abaddon clenches his fist when his eyes sees the page he was seeking, and the pages stop turning. Sebastian's eyes widen when he reads the spell on the page.

"Are you sure that's going to work? It's not going to last. They'll figure out how to get out of that situation." Sebastian states.

"This is only meant to be a deterrent for now. By the time they fix this, I would be back from my trip down the memory lane." Abaddon says.

"What about the ingredients required to make the spell work?" Sebastian asks.

"The ingredients is only needed to tap into the magic to make the spell work. Obviously, I don't have that problem." Abaddon boasts.

Sebastian nods and watches in amazement.

" _Ante transgressum in hanc horam, tolle de viribus suis."_ Abaddon chants in Latin.

" _Ante transgressum in hanc horam, tolle de viribus suis.  
Ante transgressum in hanc horam, tolle de viribus suis." _Abaddon repeats twice more.

Whispers can be heard for a second as smoke rises from the grimoire and they disappear. Abaddon waves his hand and the table transforms into a bed. Sebastian looks at Abaddon in surprise.

"I'm going to be laying here for a while. I need to be comfortable." Abaddon smiles. Abaddon lies down on the bed and positions himself to grant himself some comfort.

"Are you ready, my lord?" Sebastian asks.

"Don't hold back; hit me with your best shot." Abaddon answers.

Abaddon closes his eyes as Sebastian positions himself by his head. He hovers his palms over Abaddon's temples as his eyes begin to change into a cloudy milk color. A red bolt jolts into Abaddon's mind as he hovers off the bed and into midair.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The school bell rings as Wyatt and Chris walk towards the entrance of the school. Wyatt struggles to keep his eyes open as he walks like a zombie searching for his next meal.

"Why do you think Mel would be angry with me?" Chris wonders. He looks to Wyatt for an answer.

Wyatt groans in response.

"The party must have been that great for you to be dragging this morning." Chris states as he opens the door for Wyatt to walk through. Wyatt stands there with his eyes closed, rocking back and forth.

"Wyatt!"

"Huh? What?" he responds groggily

" _Go!_ " Chris emphasizes as he points to the interior of the school.

Wyatt drags himself into the school and Chris follows him inside. Chris looks at his brother walk towards the lockers and leans against them, as he begins to snore. Chris rolls his eyes and walks to a water fountain and takes out his water bottle. He fills up his bottle and walks closer to his brother and throws the water in his face. Wyatt jumps up in shock as he gasps loudly. He looks around and then wipes his face with his palms.

"What the hell did you do that for?!" Wyatt yells.

"It was either the water or a slap across the face. Just be grateful." Chris says with a smile.

Wyatt looks around and then looks back at Chris.

"Where's Dom?"

"I don't know. Maybe he came to school earlier than you did." Chris guesses.

"Maybe..." Wyatt mumbles, "What are you doing later? You want to come by during lunch and hang out for a bit?"

"Why would I want to do that?" Chris asks.

"I just wanted to hang out with my brother; is that a crime?" Wyatt asks.

Chris looks at him suspiciously but shakes his head, "No, I should get going. We're already late for homeroom."

"Right…" Wyatt says as he walks down the hallway with Chris.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Wyatt enters the classroom and then quickly scans the faces looking for Dom. Dom is sitting in the back of the class donning a pair of sunglasses.

"It's nice of you to finally join us, Mr. Halliwell." the teacher says.

Wyatt chuckles nervously and walks to his seat, conveniently right next to Dom's.

"Where were you this morning?" Wyatt whispers to him.

"I wanted to get to school earlier so I did." Dom answers in a monotone voice.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I knew you would've been too tired to come with. What's with the 21 questions?" Dom asks.

"Excuse me for being concerned about you." Wyatt says as he backs away. A brief moment later, he leans in and whispers once more, "What's with the shades?"

"Trying to fall asleep without being caught, I'm still tired from last night." Dom answers.

"I should've thought about that. I need one of those too." Wyatt mutters to himself.

"Well, can't help you there."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Wyatt asks.

The school bell rings and the students stand up, getting ready to go to their first period class.

"I'm fine, Wyatt." Dom says smoothly. He grabs his backpack and walks away, leaving Wyatt to wonder what the deal was with best friend.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Billie sits at a computer, busy at work when the doorbell rings. She stands and opens the door and sees Paige standing before her with a wide grin.

"Don't do that. It's creepy." Billie says as she turns around and walks to her computer.

Paige sighs and follows Billie into her loft as she closes the door behind her.

"What brings you to this side of town?" Billie asks.

"The same reason I have been spending the entire week with you, Billie." Paige answers, "Do you have any new leads or any progress?"

"None so far." Billie says, "But I did think of something that I think might help."

"Ok, what is it?"

"You know how I was able to encrypt my laptop so I can use it to scry for evil in the city?"

Paige nods her understanding as she listens to Billie.

"Well, I created an app which allows me to scan the neighboring areas for evil and sends me notifications…"

"Wait…" Paige pauses, "You created an app to scry for evil?"

"Yup." Billie answers with a smile.

"How is that even possible?" Paige asks.

"Same as scrying with the computer. I programmed the GPS in my phone to the crystal I built into the home button on my phone. I enchanted the crystal and voila!"

"Wow." Paige says softly, clearly impressed, "Did it work?"

"Haven't tried it yet. There's only one way to find out."

"Isn't it a bit dangerous scrying for random evil?" Paige asks.

"I thought the whole reason why we're doing this is to find any type of evil since they are practically nonexistent right now. Any demon or warlock at this point will be good for us." Billie explains.

"Good point." Paige agrees.

"So, you're ready?"

"Hit it!" Paige says as she walks closer to Billie.

Billie turns on the app and a grid appears, scanning the entire map on her phone. A red dot appears and the scanning box zeros in on the location. The coordinates and the street names appear on the phone.

"We got one." Billie says with a smile.

"Let's go." Paige says reciprocating the smile.

Billie grabs her car keys and runs out of the apartment with Paige.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Phoebe opens the door leading to the Bay Mirror office. She walks in cautiously as she looks around and sees the office has less people than she's used to seeing. She arrives at Elise's office and gently taps on the glass door. Elise opens the door with a smile and immediately hugs Phoebe.

"Phoebe!" Elise says with a rhapsodic voice, "I'm so glad you could make it. Come in!"

Phoebe side steps Elise and walks further into the office. She pulls out the chair and sits down nervously. Elise marches around her desk and has a seat on the other side of the table.

"So how are you? How have you been?" Elise asks.

"I've been good. Just a few things I have to take care of but it should be a piece of cake." Phoebe responds, "So what about you? How have you been?"

"Can't complain. Just doing what I do best." Elise answers, "I'm sorry for hounding you with numerous phone calls. I just wanted to get this exclusive on Phoebe Halliwell before anyone else did."

"Exclusive, Elise? Stop it." Phoebe chuckles nervously.

"So you're ready to begin?" Elise asks.

"Yeah, let's get started." Phoebe replies.

"I hope you don't mind if I record this?"

"Of course not." Phoebe answers "Didn't know people still used tape recorders but go ahead."

Elise takes a tape recorder and sets it on the table. She presses the record button on

"Ok, so you're the author of the New York Times Best Selling book, _Asking Phoebe_. How did you feel when you found out your book reached number 1 on the best seller's list?"

"I was elated. I mean the whole reason I wrote the book was to get to people to understand that they're not the only people facing those particular set of problems and I wanted to give them an avenue to allow change to enter their lives and have it take hold. To see it reach number one for as long as it did…."

"Six weeks." Elise interjects.

"Yeah, six weeks. I just feel happy that I was able to help as many people as the book did." Phoebe answers.

"What inspired you to write the book in the first place?" Elise asks.

Phoebe takes a deep breath and sighs.

"Um, my family? The best teacher in life is experience and my experiences has taught me a lot so I thought it best to pass it along to all those who were willing to listen. My husband, my children, my sisters….and my previous boss all helped inspire me to write this book." Phoebe answers.

Elise stops writing for a split second and stares at Phoebe with tears in her eyes. She shakes her head and then looks down.

"Ok, so next question…" Elise clears her throat, "Has being famous changed your life?"

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In the manor, Piper walks to the closed bedroom door, holding a tray of eggs, bacon, sausages, apple sauce and milk. She presses her ear to the door, listening for any sound and then finally knocks gently on the door. She waits for an answer but then figures that Laylah will not even attempt to answer her. She grabs the doorknob and slowly turns and opens the door.

Laylah sat on the bed with her knees drawn closer to her chest. Her chin rests on her knees as she stared out of the window mindlessly. Piper walks in and shuts the door behind her.

"Hey, Laylah." Piper says warmly as she slowly approaches her.

"I've got breakfast for you." She says as she sets the tray on the table beside her.

"I don't know why I keep cooking for you, you never eat it anyway. I guess I have this thing where I can't sleep unless all the people in my house are fed." Piper chuckles anxiously.

Laylah doesn't acknowledge Piper's presence and continues to stare out of the open window.

"I'm a pretty good cook so you don't have to worry about horrible food in the house." Piper jokes.

Laylah continues to stare out the window.

"You know it is winter and it is kind of cold in here. I can shut the window if you want me to." Piper says with a shiver. Piper walks around the bed and shuts the window. She turns to face Laylah and folds her arms.

"So is today going to be the day you'll finally say something or should we just stop trying?" Piper asks.

Laylah doesn't respond.

"You don't even have to answer, just blink once for yes, twice for no."

No response.

"You know my children and their cousins risked their lives to find you; to save you." Piper says, "The very least you can do is talk to us and help us in return."

No response.

"Ok. Well, I'll be back in four hours to see if you ate the food or not. I don't know how you can go this whole entire time without eating but to each his own, or in your case, her own." Piper says as she walks around and walks to the door. Piper looks back at Laylah once more, opens the door and closes the door.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Chris walks out of his high school and crosses the street to the elementary and junior high school he used to attend. He enters the building and walks down the hallway. He bumps into one of his previous teachers.

"Hey, Chris!" his teacher greets him with eagerness.

"Hey, Mr. Johnson."

"I heard you're in high school now. How is it treating you?" Mr. Johnson asks.

"It's ok. Still adjusting." Chris answers, "Hey, does my sister have the same lunch period or she's in class?"

"No, she's at lunch right now. Why? Is everything okay?" Mr. Johnson asks.

"Yeah, I just wanted to check up on her." Chris answers.

"Sure, just head to the cafeteria and you'll find her there."

"Thank you." Chris says as he walks away.

Mr. Johnson smiles and nods.

After what seems like an eternity, Chris arrives at the cafeteria. He walks in and sees a cafeteria filled with many preteens. Trying to distinguish her sister's face within the crowd was going to be a challenge but he knew that the bond he shared with his sister has a magnetic pull that will narrow down his eye's view. Within a second, his eyes spot his sister sitting at a lunch table eating her lunch by herself. Chris's heart breaks at the scene of his sister dining by herself. He walks to the table and sits down.

"Hey, Mel." He says in a friendly tone.

Mellie looks up for a brief second, rolls her eyes and continues eating.

"Ok, you've been hanging around Tricia too much. The eye rolling thing?" Chris jokes but notices his sister barely cracks a smile.

"Mel, talk to me. I don't like it when you're like this." Chris whispers to her.

Mellie stands up and grabs her tray. She tosses her food into the trash and walks away.

"Mel!" Chris calls after her but elicits no response.

"She's been like that lately, you know?" a female voice can be heard from behind. Chris turns around and sees his previous principal, Principal Dawson, "Ever since you left, she has withdrawn herself from everyone and she eats by herself. I had to convince her to run for her class president in an effort to get her to be sociable again and it worked to a certain extent but still..."

Guilt washes over Chris's face as he looks down.

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Phoebe and Elise continue the interview as their laughs fill the office. Elise wipes a tear from her eyes and asks the next question.

"Is there a follow up to your best seller or this is it?"

"I don't know, to be honest." Phoebe replies, "Most sequels to movies usually don't do that well and I honestly don't know if I have any information out there to give but we will see. I'm sure something will come to mind."

"Well, that is it. That concludes the interview." Elise says as she stands up. Phoebe stands up with her and shakes her hand, "Thank you for taking time out of your day to come out here and do this for me."

"Of course, Elise. Not a problem." Phoebe responds, "How soon will that make it into the newspaper?"

"Probably next week." Elise answers.

"I'll see you later, Elise." Phoebe says as she turns around and grabs her purse and jacket. She opens the door and walks out of the office. As she walks through the cubicles of the Bay Mirror, numerous memories run through her mind which causes her to smile sheepishly. With her mind wandering aimlessly, she bumps into another female and she drops her jacket and purse.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Phoebe apologizes profusely as she bends down to picks her purse and jacket, while helping the other woman to pick up her paperwork.

"Don't worry about it, Phoebe. It was an accident." The woman replies.

"Amanda?" Phoebe says as she walks closer to her.

"Hey, Phoebe." Amanda greets.

"How are you? How have you been?" Phoebe asks genuinely.

"Living each day like it's my last." Amanda replies.

"Carpe diem, right?" Phoebe laughs.

"Yeah, except mine is more literal." Amanda says as she looks down at her feet.

"What do you mean?"

"Look around you, Phoebe." Amanda says as Phoebe begins to scour her surroundings, "Sophie, Greg and Charlie got laid off in the last two weeks, and there's a rumor that there's more to come."

"Wait, why?!" Phoebe asks.

"We can't keep up with the Chronicle. We keep losing our subscribers to them and the circulation is down. There's even talk of selling the newspaper if we don't improve in six months." Amanda explains.

"Oh my God. I had no idea." Phoebe gasps.

"That's why Elise first tried to hire you, and then settled for writing an article about you hoping that will do something." Amanda states.

"I don't know what to say." Phoebe says with her voice drowned in guilt.

"It's okay. I have to go anyway. It was good seeing you, Phoebe." Amanda says as she walks away.

"Likewise." Phoebe responds. She turns around and looks around once more. She finally sees what she made herself blind to when she first walked in. The energy of the newspaper isn't the same as it was when she worked there five years prior. The motivation was lacking and the ambition that drove the newspaper to its peak had lost its luster. In a way, Phoebe felt responsible and nothing anyone could change it. Drawing a deep sigh, Phoebe turns around and walks out of the Bay Mirror.

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Wyatt walks into the cafeteria of his school and scans the room looking for Chris and Dom. The cafeteria was bustling with teenagers, gathered in different cliques. The teachers marched up and down the cafeteria and the newly acquired friends he made due to his position on the football team called his name, gesturing him to come over. He walks to them and waves at them unenthused, as he sits down among them.

"Ask Halliwell…" Jesse says as he looks at Wyatt wearing his sunglasses, "The party last night was insane."

"Yeah, it was crazy." Wyatt says without interest, his eyes still searching through the crowd.

"The Pattersons always knew how to rock it." Jesse says, "The party was so insane, I don't think Tracey came to school today. Shoot, I almost didn't make it to school today. I even got to make out with the Patterson sister, Ella."

The rest of the group laughs at Jesse's comment.

"Halliwell, what's going on? Are you okay?" Jesse asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just looking for my brother." Wyatt answers and immediately spots Chris standing in line for lunch. "I'll be right back." Wyatt jumps up and excuses himself from the table and walks towards Chris.

"Hey." Wyatt says as he approaches Chris.

"Oh my God, I swear you are like a stalker." Chris grumbles as he rolls his eyes.

"I'm looking for Dom, have you seen him?" Wyatt asks.

"Last time I checked, he was heading to the bathroom but that was an hour ago. I doubt he's still there." Chris answers, "Why? What happened?"

"He was acting different this morning and he didn't show up to class last period. I just want to make sure he's ok." Wyatt says.

Chris takes a deep sigh and groans, "Fine. I'll help you search for him."

Chris walks out of the line and walks out of the cafeteria with Wyatt. They open the door to the boys' bathroom and walk into pitch black darkness.

"Why are the lights off in the middle of the day?" Chris' voice can be heard asking.

"Search for the light switches." Wyatt instructs. A few moments later, a flick can be heard and all the lights turn on, brightening the bathroom. Chris and Wyatt look around and enter the stalls one by one. Wyatt stops at the sink and sees a backpack lying underneath it.

"This is his backpack so he was here." Wyatt says as he picks it up.

"I don't see him here." Chris announces.

"I don't know where he could be." Wyatt sighs, "Let's get out of here."

Wyatt and Chris turn around to walk out when Chris freezes in his spot, eyes on the ceiling and mouth dropped open.

"What? Why did you stop?" Wyatt asks.

Chris lifts his hand slowly and points to the ceiling. Wyatt turns around and gasps loudly.

"OH MY GOD!"

Dom hung upside down on the ceiling, his body was in the form of a bat and his eyes open at the sound of Wyatt's voice and he drops down from the ceiling and begins to fly around.

"What should we do?!" Chris asks.

"Use your power to guide him into the bag." Wyatt suggests.

Chris waves his hand as the telekinesis sound cues his numerous attempts but he fails miserably.

"It's not working." Chris yells frantically, "You try!"

Wyatt hands the bag to Chris and holds his palm towards the bat. Orbs surround it but nothing happens.

"I guess we have to capture him the old fashioned way." Wyatt says as he snatches the backpack and runs after the bat, "Make sure the door is locked!"

Chris runs to the door and turns the lock. Wyatt stands on the toilet and watches the bat fly around in the bathroom. The bat perches itself upside down on a light fixture.

"Slow and steady…" Chris says softly.

"Lift me up so I can get closer." Wyatt says.

Chris aims his hand towards Wyatt and raises it slowly. Wyatt begins to rise slowly in the air by Chris' direction. Wyatt slowly reaches the light and he quickly covers the bat with the backpack. The bat begins to fight and wiggle around in the bag as Chris lowers Wyatt to the ground. Wyatt zips up the backpack and walks to his brother.

"Now what?" Chris asks.

"Let's get out of here." Wyatt says as he unlocks the door and walks out of the bathroom with Chris following suit.

TO BE CONTINUED


	5. 10x04: Twihard With a Vengeance (2)

**10x04: Twihard with a Vengeance (Part 2)**

Following Billie into an alley, Paige cautiously looks behind her to see if they are being followed. She looks around as they come to a dead end; boxed in with nowhere to go but they path from which they came.

"I don't think your app is working. We're here and I don't see any demons." Paige says, frustrated. She places her hands on her hips and gives Billie a stern look.

"No, the demon is here somewhere. We are not looking well enough." Billie says. She walks closer to the wall on her left, shielded with boxes and crates. With a wave of her hand, Billie moves the boxes out of her path and unveils a door covered with graffiti.

"As you were saying?" Billie retorts with sly smile. She opens the door and walks in. Paige looks around and then walks into the dark room.

As the women walk around in the darkness, the only thing that lit their path was the cell phone in Billie's hand.

"We're here." Billie says as she halts, "According to this, there should be a demon here."

"Well, it's hard to see anything in this dark hole." Paige quips.

"Use the flash light on your cell phone then." Billie suggests.

"Alright, alright." Paige says as she takes out her phone and turns on the flash light. A crashing noise in the corner causes Billie and Paige to turn to their left, in the direction of the noise.

"What was that?" Billie asks.

"You're asking me as if I haven't been standing next to you the entire time." Paige snaps.

The women walk closer to the noise and find an unconscious woman on the ground. Billie rushes to the woman, squats and instinctively places her fingers on the side of her neck, checking for her pulse.

"She's alive, but her pulse is weak." Billie states.

Paige notices the bite mark on the woman's neck.

"Uh, Billie? We have to go." Paige says in a daunted tone.

"Why?" Billie asks.

A silhouette of a woman standing beside Paige emerges out of the dark and stares at Billie and Paige. The woman smiles and reveals her fangs.

"Is that what I think it is?" Billie questions.

The woman hisses at Billie and Paige. Billie stands up and waves her hand at the woman but the woman doesn't budge.

"Uh, what the hell?" Billie whispers as she continues to wave her hands at the woman in an attempt to use her telekinesis but to no avail.

Billie looks at the woman as fear creeps up on her face.

"Uh oh." Billie says in a high pitched voice.

Outside in the alley, a scream can be heard as Paige and Billie fly out of the boarded up windows of the room they were previously in. They land on the crates and boxes as the woman emerges from the dark and walk towards the witches.

Billie sees the woman walking towards them and she tries to wake up Paige frantically as she stands up.

"Orb us out of here, Paige!" Billie says as she stands up. Paige grabs Billie and closes her eyes but nothing happens.

"I can't." Paige says as she opens her eyes in surprise.

"Damn it!" Billie says. The woman grabs Paige and throws her across the alley way. Paige lands on top of a garbage bin and slides to the ground. Billie performs a flip over the woman and then kicks the woman, who stumbles forward and falls to the ground.

"You ok, Paige?" Billie asks.

"Peachy." Paige groans.

The woman stands up and walks towards Billie. Billie spins and tries to land a round house kick but the woman blocks the kick and grabs Billie by the throat. She pins Billie against the wall and leans in closer to her. A brief second later, she gasps and releases Billie from her grip. She looks down and sees a piece of wood impaled through her from the back. Smoke spews from her mouth and fire forms in her mouth as she begins to scream. The fire consumes her and she explodes from sight.

Billie breathes a sigh of relief as she sees Paige standing before her, realizing Paige impaled the woman before.

"What the hell was that?" Billie asks.

"That, my dear friend was a vampire." Paige finally reveals.

"Huh. Cool." Billie says as she looks around and then looks at Paige.

"I told you my app worked!" Billie says as she slaps Paige's arm.

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Wyatt and Chris stand in an empty classroom of the school with Chris paces back and forth and Wyatt leaning against a wall. Wyatt occasionally peaks through the glass part of the door to see if there is anyone approaching.

"What are we going to do?" Wyatt asks in a panic.

"Calm down, Wyatt. I'm thinking." Chris says as he continues to pace.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?! My best friend is a bat and I don't know why or how and you want me to calm down?" Wyatt says, freaking out.

Chris stops pacing and grabs his brother by the shoulders.

"Listen to me!" Chris says as his tone shifts into a more serious tone, "the only way we can save Dom is to think with a clear head and the only way we can do that is get home and have mom help us. Trust in ourselves that we can protect and save him. We cannot think clearly if we're too busy losing our marbles so get your mindset together, get your emotions in check and let's get the hell out of dodge. Do you think you can do that?"

Wyatt, still frozen with distress stares blankly at Chris.

"Nod if you understand and agree with me." Chris says with emphasis.

Wyatt nods, "I'm good."

Chris squints his eyes at Wyatt as he examines his behavior, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I said I'm good." Wyatt says in a calm tone.

He looks down at the bag, "Do you think he can breathe in there?"

"You undid the zipper at the top. That should be enough for him." Chris says, "We have to go home."

"Go home? You know mom and dad are going to tear us a new one for skipping school." Wyatt expresses his concern.

"Wyatt, Dom is a bat. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as an exception."

A scream can be heard outside the classroom. Wyatt and Chris stare at each other and another scream comes from the window outside. They run to the window and see a blonde girl pinned against the tree by a boy.

"I'm going down there." Chris says as he orbs out.

"Chris, wait for me!" Wyatt says as he orbs out shortly after.

The two brothers appear behind the girl and boy in orbs.

"Hey!" Chris calls out and the boy turns around, hissing at the brothers.

"Oh my God." Chris says in surprise.

"Run!" Wyatt warns and the young girl runs away.

Chris waves his hand at the boy in an effort to throw him but nothing happens.

"Ok, my powers are not working." Chris panics.

A young blonde girl appears next to Wyatt and she begins to hiss at the boys as well.

"Is the vampire convention in town or something?" Wyatt questions.

The girl grabs Wyatt and tosses him across the yard. He lands in the grass and falls unconscious.

The boy vampire grabs Chris by the throat and leans in to sink his teeth into his neck. He hisses as he moves in slowly but his fangs retract.

"Save me." He whispers to Chris.

"Huh?" Chris looks at him in confusion.

An energy ball hits the male vampire and he flies into the wall. Chris grabs his own neck and watches sees the female vampire closing in on Wyatt. Another energy ball hits her and she falls back into the grass. She runs to the male vampire and helps him stand up. They transform into bats and fly out of the yard.

"Are you okay?" a girl says as she walks up to Chris.

Chris' eyes widen when he looks up and sees the girl standing before him.

"Bianca?"

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"You're a witch?!" Chris exclaims loudly in disbelief.

"I don't know why that shocks you, seeing as how you are a witch too." Bianca retorts.

Wyatt, Chris and Bianca sat in a garden house surrounded by potted plants.

"Yeah, but I've never met a witch who can shoot energy balls." Chris says as he looks at Wyatt, who has an ice pack on the back of his head.

"There are witches who can manipulate energy into electricity and vice versa. Your aunt has the power to shoot electricity from her hands, doesn't she?" Bianca asks.

"That's different. That's because of her empathy power." Chris answers.

"Energy balls are not exclusive to demons only, you know." Bianca defends herself.

"If you're not a demon, why didn't you tell us?" Wyatt asks.

"The same reason why you didn't tell me. I barely knew who you were and you barely knew me." Bianca explains.

"But you knew about us and our magic; we knew nothing about you. _That's_ the difference." Chris says, trying to emphasize his point.

"Ok, we can go back and forth right now but we're just burning daylight. We have to find those vampires and vanquish them." Bianca says.

"How? My powers didn't work against them." Chris states.

"Vampires are immune to the powers of witches." Bianca reveals.

"And yet, you were able to fend them off with your powers. Do you see the point I'm trying to make here?" Chris says.

"You two can bicker later," Wyatt says as he stands up, "We still got to find a way to save Dom."

"Dom? What's wrong with Dom?" Bianca asks.

Wyatt takes off his backpack and unzips it a little as he leans closer to Bianca and shows her what was inside.

"Dom's a vampire?"

"Apparently so." Wyatt answers.

"How do we save him?" Chris asks.

"Assuming he has not fed yet, he will turn back once we vanquish the vamp that turned him but we must do it soon." Bianca warns.

"Why?" Wyatt asks.

"When the sun sets and the new moon rises, that's when the vampires' thirst for blood reaches its peak. They will not stop until they draw blood, novice and veteran vampires alike." Bianca explains.

"We've got to go home now." Chris says as he stands up and heads for the exit. He turns around and looks at Bianca, "Are you coming with?"

"No." Bianca answers softly, "You have the Charmed Ones on your side so I'm no longer needed. I'll just see you guys later."

"Ok." Wyatt says as he walks out and Chris follows him.

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Piper sits in the living room watching television. She carries a big bowl of popcorn on her lap, with her legs crossed and resting on the dining room table. She laughs and stuffs her face with popcorn when the front door of the Manor can be heard opening and closing. Phoebe walks in with a despondent attitude.

"Hey…" she says in a gloomy tone as she drops her purse on the floor and collapses onto the couch.

"What happened to you?" Piper laughs as she continues to chow down on her popcorn.

"Life is so cruel." Phoebe says morosely.

"Where is this coming from?" Piper asks.

"Do you think me living in Europe for the past five and a half years was a selfish thing to do?" Phoebe asks.

"I don't want to answer that." Piper says, after hesitating.

"So that's a yes. I'm a horrible person." Phoebe whines.

"What's going on? I thought you went to go get the interview done with Elise." Piper asks.

"The interview was fine but the environment was horrible." Phoebe says as she covers her face with her hands.

"Ok, I'm lost." Piper says as she shuts off the television and sits up, giving Phoebe her undivided attention.

"Apparently, not soon after I left, the Bay Mirror started losing readers and then business and circulation went down and then people got laid off and now the newspaper might get sold." Phoebe explains.

"Sold? Isn't Jason the boss? How can he do that?" Piper asks.

"I mean if he isn't going to make any profit off of the newspaper, why should he keep it?" Phoebe notes.

"I doubt that this is your fault, Phoebe." Piper says.

"Well, I can't help but feel responsible for it all." Phoebe says.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Piper asks.

"I don't know yet. Therein lies the dilemma." Phoebe answers.

The front door of the Manor swings open and Paige and Billie walk through it, carrying a woman. They walk to the couch and lay her down gently.

"Ok, what is with you people bringing unconscious women to the house? One is already enough to handle, I can't stress over another." Piper yells.

"We have a problem." Paige announces.

Piper and Phoebe stare at each other and then at Paige and Billie, wondering what the issue is now.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In a dark, cold and dingy room, a woman soaks a small face towel in a basin of water. She squeezes the towel and rings the excess water out of the towel and applies it over a wound. The boy winces in pain as soon as the towel makes contact.

"Oh, hush boy." The woman scolds him, "The wound is superficial."

"I've never been hit with an energy ball before so excuse me for not being used to the pain." The boy replies. He looks up at sees the blonde vampire standing before him.

"So explain to me exactly what happened? How did you guys fail this time?" the woman asks.

"Well, we wouldn't have failed if Eddie over there didn't hesitate to turn the girl. She was willing and ready but he took too long."

"I didn't hesitate; I just was trying to calm her down." Eddie explains.

"Calm her down? You were not supposed to frighten them. The only way to keep the attention from ourselves is to keep them wanting to become us, by choice, not by force." The woman explains.

"Well, tell that to Eddie because I was successful last night with what's his face." The girl boasts.

"If you were so successful, Ella, then where's your mark now?" Eddie asks.

"I only have to wait until the end of the day when the night falls for him to come to me." Ella explains.

"Enough!" the woman interrupts, "We do not have time for this. The whole idea was to rebuild our family again and avenge the deaths of the ones we lost at the hand of the Charmed Ones."

"Speaking of the Charmed Ones…" Ella begins, "Guess who came and interrupted the feed?"

"The Charmed Ones?" the woman asks.

"No, the Charmed Sons." Eddie answers.

"Really? Very interesting." The woman says as she moves closer to Ella, "We have a new target."

"What is the plan?" Ella asks.

"All we need is attack one and sway him to our side; then we will be truly unstoppable." The woman states.

"Great." Eddie whispers to himself apathetically.

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"Vampires?!" Piper asks with her voice tinged with doubt, "Are you sure?"

"I know what vampires are, Piper. I turned into one before, remember?" Paige says.

"You turned into a vampire?" Billie asks.

"Now is not the time, Billie." Piper says, trying to get back on track.

"Vampires do not attack in broad daylight." Phoebe says.

"I know. That's why I was confused. Something is up." Paige says.

"Oh, that's not the worst part." Billie says.

"What can be worse than vampires during the daytime?" Phoebe asks.

"I lost my powers." Paige answers.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Phoebe asks again for clarification.

"I can't orb. You can try to use yours and see." Paige says.

Paige grabs the bowl of popcorn and looks at Piper, "Try and freeze this."

"Wait, Paige!" Piper screams as Paige drops the bowl. Piper thrusts her hands in an attempt to freeze but the bowl hits the ground and popcorn spills everywhere.

"See?" Paige says.

"What I see is you spilling popcorn all over my damn floor, Paige; when you could've just asked me to freeze something else like, I don't know like the grand father's clock or something that wouldn't create a mess!" Piper screams.

"Piper." Phoebe says in shock, "You're missing the point. You couldn't freeze the bowl and I can't feel how angry you are right now, which means I don't have my powers either."

"How is that possible? Who can be behind it?" Piper asks.

"Only one person, Abaddon." A voice can be heard in the distance saying.

Everyone in the room turns around to see Laylah standing by the bannister.

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"She speaks!" Piper screams with her words dripping with sarcasm.

"Piper, not now." Phoebe says, trying to maintain the peace.

"Why? If she said something earlier, we could've done something about it before we lost our powers." Piper says angrily.

"Who is Abaddon? Is he the one who held you prisoner?" Billie asks.

"Yes." Laylah answers, "And Abaddon is my brother."

"Whoa, talk about your plot twists." Paige blurts out.

"What can you tell us about Abaddon? Anything that we need to know?" Phoebe asks.

"Well…" Laylah begins to say but her sentence is cut short when Wyatt and Chris orb into the living room. Wyatt and Chris look around and see all the eyes looking at them.

"Oh, thank God you're all here." Wyatt says, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Your butt is supposed to be in school. What are you guys doing here?" Piper asks.

"We have a situation." Chris says as he takes the bag from Wyatt and tosses it on the table. The bat inside the bag wiggles around for a little bit and then stops. The sisters and Billie jump back as the bag moves.

"A vampire situation."

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The door to the attic swings open and in marches Piper, Paige, Phoebe, Billie, Chris and Wyatt. Piper walks to the couch and picks up the Book. She places the Book on the podium and begins to flip through the pages.

"So walk me through this. How did all this happen?" Piper asks as she flips through the pages.

"Dom got turned into a vampire by one of the girls in our school…" Wyatt begins to explain but Phoebe interrupts.

"Wait, a _girl_? Like a teenager?" Phoebe asks.

"Yeah." Chris answers.

"The vampire we vanquished earlier today was a young girl too. She looked like she was in her teens too." Billie says.

"Just making sure. Carry on." Phoebe whispers.

"We saw her brother trying to bite a girl at school today and that's when we jumped in and saved her from the both of them." Chris explains.

"Where did they turn Dom? Because neophyte vampires don't turn all of a sudden. It takes hours before they can fully transform." Paige asks.

"Um…" Wyatt says as he stares at Chris.

"You're going to have to tell them." Chris suggests.

"Tell us what?" Piper asks.

"We snuck out to go the party yesterday." Wyatt admits.

"So you went to a party that I expressly forbade you from attending and you ended up turning your best friend into a vampire?" Piper rambles.

"Yes ma'am." Wyatt says as he hangs his head low in shame.

"I think there's an 'I told you so' in that lesson somewhere but we'll get back to it later." Piper says, "Damn it!"

"What?" Phoebe asks.

"There's not any information in here about vampires that we already do not know." Piper says as she slams the book closed out of frustration.

"So what do we do?" Billie asks.

"I'm assuming there's a queen who started this all out anyway so we kill her, her minions roast with her." Phoebe answers.

"So I guess we need to stock up on holy water and wooden stakes." Paige says.

"Where are we going to get holy water?" Phoebe asks, "It's not like you can orb up there and get it."

"You're right." Paige says.

"We can take our chances with the stakes." Piper says, "We just have to find out where this queen is and kill her."

"You don't need to." Eddie says standing at the door of the attic.

"Who the hell are you?" Piper asks.

"He's one of the vampire kids we fought off earlier." Wyatt answers.

"I can help you get to the queen, if you can help me." Eddie pleads.

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Night falls in San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen for a brief moment before the Charmed Ones' manor can be seen once more. Inside the attic, Eddie Patterson sits on a stood surrounded by the witches, while being interrogated.

"Let them stay with you guys for a little bit until things get back to normal over here." Paige says as she paces back and forth on the phone, "Thanks, honey. I'll see you later."

"So?" Piper asks.

"Henry will take care of the kids until we're done here. We're all set." Paige answers as she rejoins the group.

"Why do you want the queen dead?" Billie asks.

"She killed my brother and turned my sister and girlfriend and my girlfriend turned me." Eddie explains.

"What's the deal with her turning kids anyway?" Paige asks.

"She wanted kids who were going to be loyal to her. She keeps saying her family was killed so she was trying to create a whole new family. According to her, children's loyalty never wavers nor falters, so they were perfect to be her disciples." Eddie says.

"Well, if that isn't creepy, I don't know what is." Piper mumbles.

"You know that if we kill the queen, all her subjects die too, and that means you too?" Phoebe warns.

"Yeah I know. I would rather die than live another day in this hell." Eddie says. The sisters look at each other and then look at Eddie.

"What is her end game?" Billie asks.

"Right now, she wants revenge on the Charmed Ones, and she wants to turn one of the boys and sway him to her side." Eddie explains.

"Over my dead body." Piper says angrily.

"Ok, side bar." Phoebe signals as the sisters and Billie walk away to the corner.

"What do you think?" Phoebe asks.

"I don't know. I want to believe him but I don't know it could be a trap." Piper whispers.

"Your empathy power would've came in handy right now but…" Paige says with a shrug.

"We don't seem to have a choice. We'll just have to wing it." Phoebe says.

"We seem to have one problem," Piper says, "They want one of my sons and I refuse to use my kids as bait."

"We don't have a choice, Piper." Paige says, "We'll be there to make sure nothing happens."

"On any given day, I'll be confident in that statement but today?" Piper says.

"They're immune to our powers so having our powers wouldn't have done anything anyway." Phoebe argues.

"We want to do it, mom." Chris says. Piper turns around and sees her boys standing behind her.

"No, I…"

"We have to do the right thing." Wyatt says, "We'll be fine."

"Ok, then. So break!" Piper says as the group walks back towards Eddie.

"Ok, we're in. What's the plan?" Phoebe asks.

"Before we do that, can we first figure out what we're going to do with poor Dom here?" Paige asks.

The entire cavalry stares at the backpack lying on the table.

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A shot of the dark night sky is shown and the dark marooned colored house is seen. Inside the house, the back door creaks open and Eddie walks through, followed by Phoebe and Billie armed with wooden stakes. Billie closes the door behind her and they walk further into the house with extreme caution.

"You sure that she'll be alone?" Billie whispers.

"Yeah, she barely leaves the house, that's why she sent Ella after Chris and Wyatt." Eddie responds.

"Is it usually this eerily quiet in this house?" Phoebe asks.

Billie shoots Phoebe a look and Phoebe shrugs, "What? It's creepy."

"Stay back here and I'll try to draw her out." Eddie says as he walks further into the house.

"I have a really bad feeling about this." Phoebe mutters.

"How'd you figure?" Billie asks.

"Experience. My intuition senses are tingling." Phoebe answers.

Eddie walks into the living room of the building and looks around, "Mom?"

"Nope, guess again." Ella says as she steps out of the shadows.

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In the attic of the Halliwell Manor, Wyatt sits down on the couch while Chris paces back and forth.

"Would you relax? Your pacing is driving me crazy." Wyatt says.

"I'm a little bit nervous, okay?"

"Weren't you the one who told me earlier to get my mind right and my emotions in check?" Wyatt asks.

"That was before we were targets of a vampire queen and her entire swarm of bats." Chris answers.

"Look, we have mom and Aunt Paige here as back up. We'll be fine." Wyatt says calmly.

"Why aren't you freaking out?" Chris asks.

"Just taking your advice. Only way to save Dom is to remain calm and trust in ourselves and our parents so I'm doing." Wyatt answers as he looks to the other side of the attic where a crystal cage has been set up with Dom lying unconsciously on the ground.

"Right." Chris says as he takes a deep breath.

A flutter can be heard in the distance and Wyatt and Chris's eyes meet with each other.

"I'm guessing you heard that." Wyatt says as he stands up. They look around and all of a sudden, a bat flies through the attic window and materializes into a woman. She stood tall with her blonde locks resting on her shoulders with her pale complexion and blood red lips.

"The Halliwell boys." She says as she examines the boys with her eyes and walks closer.

Chris and Wyatt take a defensive stance and the queen laughs in amusement.

"How cute, you're cuter than Ella described." She says. She waves her hand and throws Wyatt and Chris across the attic and into the wall on the opposite side.

"Wyatt! Chris!" Piper screams as she runs into the attic with Paige.

"I was wondering when you guys were going to show up." The queen says sarcastically. She thrusts her hand forward and sends the sisters flying across the attic and landing heavily on the attic floor. She holds her hands in the air and Wyatt, Chris, Piper and Paige are lifted from the ground and pinned against the wall.

"I expected more of a challenge with the Charmed Ones even though you're one sister short."

She walks towards the boys and pauses. She looks at the crystal cage and sees an unconscious Dom.

"Look what we have here." She says with an intrigued voice. She walks to the crystal cage and removes one of the crystals from its position. The cage glows momentarily and then disables. She walks around and takes a knee by Dom's head. She gently lifts his head and lays it on her lap. She strokes his hair gently as she begins to whisper.

"Wake up, my sweet. It is time."

"Stay away from him!" Wyatt cries.

Dom's eyes flicker open and he groans.

"That's it. That's my boy. Arise, my son." She says as she stands up and Dom stands up with her. Dark circles form around his eyes and his pupils dilate.

"I have the perfect first meal for you, my dear." She says as she looks at Wyatt and Chris.

Dom looks at Wyatt menacingly and hisses with his fangs forming.

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Back at the Queen's house, Eddie faces off with Ella.

"Where is she?" Eddie asks.

"She went after the Charmed sons herself. She knew you would go running over there to warn them so she decided to let me stay here and deal with you." Ella says as she begins to pace.

"We don't have to do this. We'll finally be free from her control." Eddie pleads.

"Free? What exactly do you call free? Living in a society where the conformity is the norm and individuality is rapidly eroding? Of course you would want to go back to that kind of lifestyle with your twitter and Instagram fame. As for me, I have never felt freer in my life!"

"I'm sorry you feel that way." Eddie murmurs.

"Yeah, she knew you were the weakest link. That's why she ordered me to kill you." Ella says.

"Yeah, that isn't happening." Billie says as she marches in with Phoebe, flanking Eddie on both sides.

"Who are these?" Ella asks.

"Reinforcements." Eddie answers.

"Well thank Abaddon the queen left me with reinforcements of my own." Ella says as she places her fingers in her mouth and whistles loudly.

Eddie looks at Phoebe and Paige and then at Ella with a puzzled look on his face.

A swarm of bats fly in through every open window and door in the house.

"Incoming!" Phoebe screams as she ducks for cover with Billie and Eddie. The bats fly around Ella and they all begin to transform into their human form, standing behind her in solidarity. Eddie stands up with Billie and Phoebe with their eyes widened in shock. The army of vampires are all teenagers standing beside and behind Ella with their fangs growing.

"Oh my God. They're kids." Phoebe says.

"You turned all the people from the party last night?" Eddie asks. "How?"

"You'll be surprised at how effective a drop of the queen's blood in the punch bowl can be." Ella gloats, "They are starving and what better way to have their first taste of blood as vampires than serving witches on a platter?"

"We only have two stakes between us, Phoebe. How are we going to kill this many vampires?" Billie asks.

"Didn't you hear her?" Phoebe whispers, "They're newly turned vampires. Until they drink fresh blood, they're basically innocents."

"Great." Billie sighs.

"Any final words?" Ella asks.

"You don't have to do this, sis." Eddie pleads once more.

Ella begins to chuckle. "Attack!"

The group of vampires charge towards Phoebe, Billie and Eddie.

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Dom approaches Wyatt slowly as he continues to hiss hungrily as The Queen watches in amusement.

"Why kids?" Paige asks, "Where does that even get you?"

"The easiest loyalty to obtain are teenagers who are in their prime of rebellion, who want to experiment with something different and daring and feel something they have never felt before. This is a win-win situation for the both of us." The Queen explains, "Plus, humans have become so obsessed with vampires due to Twilight, True Blood and Vampire Diaries that it was really easy to sell the pitch without effort. Sparkling vampires, can you believe it?"

"Why couldn't they be obsessed with Buffy? That would've made this situation a lot easier." Piper jokes.

"Enough of that. Dom, hurry and finish him off." The queen orders.

"Wyatt and Chris can still escape. They still have their powers." Paige whispers to Piper.

"You're right." Piper says as she looks at her sons. "Wyatt, Chris! Orb!"

Wyatt closes his eyes as blue and white lights dance around him and he disappears from sight. The queen and Dom look at each other in surprise. A few moments later, Chris orbs out of the attic as well.

"What did you do?!" the queen bellows.

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Eddie, Billie and Phoebe engage the vampires in hand to hand combat as Ella watches from the other side of the room.

Phoebe runs up the wall and flips behind the vampires before her. She drops the ground in a squat position and sweeps her right leg in a swift manner, knocking down a few vamps to the ground. She stands up and starts delivering kicks to the vampires charging at her, sending them flying one by one.

Billie uses her magic to direct objects towards the vampires as they charge towards her. She ends up succeeding as the heavy objects she sends their way knocks them down or hits them hard enough to send them flying and slamming them against the wall.

"How long do we have to do this for?" Billie asks.

"Hopefully not long enough. Until Piper vanquishes the queen." Phoebe says as she grabs one of the vampires by the arm as she flips her over and slams her to the ground.

Eddie grabs the vampires one by one and tosses them with ease as he fights through the mob. Ella jumps into the crowd and grabs her brother by the neck.

"Oh no, little brother." She snarls, "You're mine."

She flings him across the room and Eddie lands on a table, which breaks on impact. Ella sits on top of her brother and she hisses.

"It could've been so simple…" Ella says as she wraps her fingers around her brother's throat.

Eddie struggles and fights his sister but she overpowers him. Eddie looks to the side and sees a piece of wood from the broken table. He tries with all his might to reach for it with his left hand while holding Ella back with his right. As his fingers finally grabs the piece of wood, he looks at his sister and shoves the piece of wood into her chest.

"I'm so sorry." He whispers as tears form in his eyes.

Ella gasps as her eyes widen. She falls over to the side as she begins to smoke and flames ignite, devouring her lifeless body. The flames extinguish and Ella's body disappears from sight.

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"Where did they go?!" the queen yells at Piper, who shrugs with a smile on her face.

"You will pay for that!" the queen says through her gritted teeth. As she charges towards the sisters, Chris and Wyatt orb in and tackles the queen from behind. Piper and Paige drop from the wall and falls to the ground in an instant. The queen attempts to wave her hand at the sisters again but Chris pins her hands by her side. Dom grabs Wyatt and tosses him across the attic and walks towards him. Dom gets on top of Wyatt and tries to sink his fangs into Wyatt's neck.

"Dom, Dom. You don't want to do this!" Wyatt strains, "You're my best friend, remember? Brothers for life?"

Dom snarls as he leans closer.

"Mom! Chris!" Wyatt pleads loudly.

Paige grabs her wooden stake and plunges it in the Queen's chest. Chris jumps up from the queen as she begins smoke out. The queen releases a gasp as she bursts into flames. She screams as the flames engulf her and explodes from sight.

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Eddie fights way through the crowd and gets to the other side, fighting next to Phoebe and Billie.

"This is extremely difficult seeing as how we can't vanquish them." Billie says as she continues to find new things to throw at the vampires.

"What the hell is taking Piper and Paige so long?" Phoebe says as she delivers a round house kick to three vampires as they fly across the room.

In an instant, the vampires begin to moan as they fall one by one.

"What's going on?" Billie asks.

Eddie stumbles forward and falls to his knees.

"The queen must be dead." Phoebe says as she walks closer to Eddie, "Are you okay?"

A single man tear falls from Eddie's eye as he catches on fire. As the fire roars loudly around him, Phoebe and Billie back away and Eddie smiles.

"Thank you." He whispers as he closes his eyes. The flames grow and Eddie explodes from sight.

Phoebe takes a deep breath and looks at Billie, who sighs loudly.

"What are we going to do about them?" Billie asks, pointing to the numerous teenagers lying on the ground before them.

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Dom's fangs retract and disappear. His pupils return to normal and the dark circles around his eyes fade. He blinks rapidly as he looks around and then looks at Wyatt pinned underneath him.

"Uh, Wy?" Dom whispers.

"Yeah, Dom?" Wyatt says with a strain in his voice.

"What's going on?" Dom asks, "And why am I on top of you?"

"You don't want to know. You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Wyatt laughs, "Can you get off me?"

"For sure." Dom says as he jumps off Wyatt and helps Wyatt to his feet.

"You don't remember anything?" Chris asks.

Dom shakes his head in response.

"Well thank God for that." Piper says as she breathes a sigh of relief.

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Numerous calming scenes of San Francisco are shown. The Island of Alcatraz is seen in the distance, the quick visual sweep of the Farallon Islands and the Gulf of the Farallones as the sun rises. The Halliwell Manor can be seen finally as Paige's car pulls up to the front of the house.

Inside the house, the Halliwell family enjoy their breakfast as Piper walks into the dining room carrying a jug of orange juice.

"All of this happened because he snuck out of the house to attend a house party." Piper says as she pours orange juice into Leo's glass.

"In all fairness, if I didn't go to the party, we would've had a vampire epidemic on our hands and we wouldn't have known until it was too late." Wyatt says in defends.

"Don't push it." Leo snaps, "You got your brother grounded for two weeks because of your selfishness. Did you apologize to him?"

"Why? An apology doesn't absolve me from this unfair punishment." Chris mutters.

"What was that?" Piper asks.

"Nothing." Chris replies.

The front door opens and Paige walks in with Phoebe and their children.

"Mom, Tricia is here. Can I go with her to my room so she can help me with my class president stuff?" Mellie asks.

"Sure, honey." Piper smiles.

"Mel…" Chris calls but Mel ignores him. Chris looks at his parents, "Mom, can I be excused?"

"I don't know. _Can_ you?" Piper asks.

"Ugh. _May_ I be excused?" Chris asks.

Leo laughs and nods his head, granting Chris permission.

"Thank you." Chris says as he stands up and runs after his sister.

"Good morning, Halliwell family!" Phoebe greets as she approaches the dining room with Paige.

"Good morning, Aunt Piper! Uncle Leo!" the kids yell as they run up the stairs.

"Good morning." Leo responds, "You're looking spiffy. What's the occasion?"

"Well…" Phoebe says as she sits down next to Leo at the dinner table, "I'm going to ask Elise if I can come back to work."

"Wow. You are really going to do it, huh?" Piper says.

"Yeah. I have to try to fix this mess I helped create. That newspaper made me who I am and got me to where I am today so I can't in good conscience leave without making sure I have tried everything to help them." Phoebe says.

"Good for you, Phoebe." Leo smiles.

"We have pressing issues to deal with right now, like our powers?" Paige reminds them.

"We tried the 'to call a lost witch' spell, reversed the relinquished power spell and everything last night and nothing." Phoebe says.

"You guys tried everything but one…" Leo interjects, "Did you talk to Laylah?"

"Why would she be of any help?" Piper asks.

"If her brother took away your powers, maybe she has an idea of how to get them back." Leo says as he stands up, "At this point, you don't have any other option."

He kisses Piper on the lips and grabs his jacket, "I'm going to the club. I'll see you later."

"You think he's right?" Paige asks.

"Is Leo ever wrong?" Phoebe asks.

"Don't go there." Piper chuckles.

"I guess we better make our way up to the attic." Phoebe says as she walks up the stairs with her sisters right behind her.

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Chris knocks on Mellie's door and awaits an answer. After a face off with a vampire, he would think that this would be a piece of cake but for some reason, the idea of his baby sister angry at him terrified Chris and given the time, break his spirit.

"Who is it?" Mellie shouts.

"It's me." Chris says.

Silence fills the air for a moment.

"Come on, let him in." Tricia can be heard on the other side with her muffled voice.

"Come in." Mellie sighs.

Chris opens the door and walks in. Mellie and Tricia are sitting on the bed, shuffling paperwork.

"What are you guys doing?" Chris asks politely.

"What do you want?" Mellie asks rudely.

"Tricia, can I speak with my sister for a moment?" Chris asks.

Tricia nods and steps out. Chris sits on Mellie's bed.

"Mel, I'm sorry." Chris begins to say.

"You don't know what you're apologizing for." Mellie says.

"Actually, I do." Chris responds, "I'm sorry for leaving you behind."

Mellie takes a deep breath and sighs, "Is that all?"

Chris looks down and then looks up at his sister, "Well, I guess I'll get going."

Chris stands up and begins to walk out, feeling as defeated as ever.

"Wait." Mellie calls to him. Chris turns around, "It was supposed to be us three, remember? You, me and Wyatt. But then Wyatt went to high school and then you left me to go to high school. I lost my brothers at the same time. Now, being in that school isn't the same."

Chris walks closer to his sister and sits next to her again, "You had to know that I was going to be going to high school right after Wyatt."

"I did." Mellie says, "But I was going to spend this entire year preparing for that. You left and didn't give me a chance to get ready."

"Oh, Mel…" Chris whispers, as his heart breaks, "If it were up to me, I would've stayed with you for a year or two but this was out of my hands. You do know what I am only a street away from you, right?"

"It's not the same." Mellie says.

"Ok, how about this. I will come over to your school every day for lunch. How about that?" Chris smiles.

"Would you really?" Mellie asks.

"Yeah."

"I love you big brother." Mellie says as she wraps her arms around Chris.

"I love you more." Chris hugs her back.

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In the darkened room in which he lay, Abaddon still hovers above the bed with Sebastian projecting years of information into his mind. As Sebastian's eyes begin to turn back into their regular color, the red electric energy fades and Abaddon floats down and lands softly on the bed. He slowly opens his eyes and takes a deep breath.

"My lord?" Sebastian says respectfully.

"Wow. That is a lot of baggage to process." Abaddon says as he sits up.

"Well, that was a little bit over four decades of information multiplied by four people so being overwhelmed is to be expected." Sebastian says.

Abaddon stands up and walks to the grimoire and flips through the pages telekinetically. He arrives at a page and looks at Sebastian.

"I believe you know what this is." Abaddon says as he points to the image in the Grimoire.

"No, I do not, my lord." Sebastian says.

"This is the weapon I need to help me take over the world and destroy my enemies in one fell swoop." Abaddon says, "According to recently acquired information, thanks to you, this is what your rival, the demon king was looking for."

"Kulak?" Sebastian asks.

"Yes. He found the chest. This, Sebastian, is the Ouroboros. Within this chest is all the information I need and with the information you have loaded into my mind regarding the Charmed Ones, I am one step closer to obtaining it. I just need to find out who 'Arcturus' is."

"Arcturus, sir?" Sebastian asks.

"The bright star who can locate and unearth this great weapon." Abaddon smiles, "Now, come with me to lay the foundation of this plan. We have a trial run to perform."

Abaddon flashes out of sight. Sebastian looks around and then after a slight hesitation, disappears in a flash of dark red light.

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Piper, Phoebe and Paige walk into the attic of the Manor, where Laylah sits awaiting them.

"Hey, Laylah…" Phoebe begins to say but Laylah cuts her off.

"I know you have a lot of questions and I am prepared to give you all the answer to them all, if you are ready." Laylah says.

"We are. We are ready." Paige says.

"What do you want to know?" Laylah asks.

The Charmed Ones stare at each other and then stare at Laylah, knowing that nothing is going to be the same after this conversation is over.

FADE TO BLACK

END OF EPISODE

Guest Starring:

Kaley Cuoco as Billie

Geoff Stults as Sebastian

Sarah Jane Morris as Laylah

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Junior

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

Isabela Moner as Bianca

Hal Ozsan as Abaddon

Curtis Harris as Dominic Frye

Eve Plumb as Principal Dawson

Sarah Michelle Gellar as the Vampire Queen

Joshua Holtz as Eddie Patterson

Chloe Lukasiak as Ella Patterson

Daniel Lara as Jesse Bridges


	6. 10x05: Case of Phoebe Halliwell (1)

**10x05: The Curious Case of Phoebe Halliwell (Part 1)**

The sun shines brightly over the busy city of San Francisco below, while the cars, buses and people moved rapidly as if time was accelerating. In an instant, a black Grand Jeep Cherokee can be seen weaving in and out of traffic, the sense of urgency felt through the loud screeching of the tires and the beeping of the horn. Inside the vehicle sat the Charmed Ones; Phoebe in the rear seat, Paige sitting in the passenger and Piper in the driver's seat. The terror on Phoebe's face was enough to describe how irrational Piper's driving was.

"Piper, ease off the gas." Phoebe says, pleading as she taps Piper on the shoulder, "Ease off the gas!"

"You're the one that told me that this was urgent and Sheila was freaking out." Piper says with no worry in her voice.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that we have to kill ourselves on our way to find out what's going on, Piper." Phoebe says.

"Did she even say what the problem was?" Paige asks.

"No, she told me to hurry because it looks like something we deal with." Phoebe answers.

"Well, that isn't vague at all…" Phoebe says sarcastically, rolling her eyes as well.

"You just said that Sheila said to hurry and that's what I'm doing." Piper defends herself.

"Yeah, you're just hurrying at 65 miles per hour in a 30 mile zone. No big deal." Phoebe scoffs.

"If it is a demon, I am not risking it because the last time we had an SOS concerning Darryl, he was on death row." Piper reminisces, "We do not want to take any risks now."

"Look, we don't…" Paige starts to say but Piper makes a sharp left turn which causes all the occupants in the car to lean towards Piper and then back to their normal positions.

"See, you just jumped a curb, Piper. You're lucky this is an SUV or you would've busted your tire and axle at the same time." Phoebe says.

"When it comes to saving innocents, there's nothing more important; or have you not been paying attention this entire time?" Piper asks.

"I wonder if my will and testament has been updated yet." Phoebe says to herself.

"How can we save innocents when our powers are under construction?" Paige asks.

"Well, the sooner we get to this situation with Darryl, the sooner we can get back to the powers situation." Piper says as she makes another sharp turn and enters the parking lot of the San Francisco Police Department.

"Do you realize you're speeding in a police parking lot? The irony…" Phoebe mutters.

"Shush, Phoebe!" Piper snaps as her tires screech, turning into a parking spot.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige open the doors and Phoebe immediately falls to her knees, raising her arms into the sky and pretends to kiss the ground.

"Land!" she wails, "I will never take you for granted ever again!"

"Come on, Phoebe!" Paige yells as she walks into the police station. Phoebe jumps up and runs to her sisters as they enter the building.

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An eerie silence fills the police station as the sisters walk through. The silence is broken when the telephone begins to ring but no one is around to answer it.

"Where the hell is everybody?" Phoebe asks.

"Where is Henry?" Paige asks.

"There's something strange going on. I feel like I'm in the middle of a scary movie." Paige says.

"Our life is a scary movie every day." Piper says as her eyes scan the room, hoping to find a logical explanation of what's going on.

As the sisters walk into the back, a young man, looking like a 16 or 17 year old runs out and shuts the door behind him. The sisters jump and scream, which makes him jump and scream.

"Oh, my God, Mrs. Mitchell?" the young man asks while examining Paige closely.

"Yes? Do I know you?" Paige asks in confusion.

"No you don't but I know you from the picture on Henry's desk with your family." He answers, "I'm Q."

"Ok, Q. What's going on?" Phoebe says as she walks closer to him. As Q begins to answer the question, Sheila runs out of the same room and slams the door shut. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to maintain her composure.

"Sheila?" Phoebe calls to her, which causes her to jump and yelp in response.

"Phoebe!" she finally utters with a sense of relief. Her eyes fall upon the rest of the sisters' faces as she walks closer and suddenly bursts into tears.

"Oh no, honey. What's wrong?" Paige asks as she wraps her arms around Sheila. Q folds his arms and leans against the wall, watching Sheila breaking down.

"Where's Darryl?" Piper asks.

Sheila begins answer the question but she stutters and pauses. She looks at the concerned looks on the sisters' faces and then backs away. She gains his composure for a moment, wipes her tears and clears her throat.

"I didn't know who to call. It's one thing to know that stuff like this can happen but it's a whole other thing when you see it with your own eyes." Sheila finally begins to say.

"What's going on?" Piper asks once more, trying hard to hide her frustration but failing miserably "Whatever it is, I'm pretty sure we have most likely seen worse, so what is it?"

Sheila takes a deep breath and steps aside. The sisters exchange nervous glances and then look at Q, who shrugs and points to the door. Piper takes the lead and opens the door, while her sisters follow her inside. Piper looks around and sees a bunch of elderly men sitting down watching golf and arguing.

An African American elderly man looking like he is pushing 80 years of age, walks to the girls aided with a walking cane.

"Q, where's my damn jello? Young kids these days, I have to ask you several times to get stuff done around here, and your hearing is better than mine." he rambles.

"Jello is coming right up. Give me another minute." Q responds and then looks at the Charmed Ones, who look at each other in confusion.

"Do I look like I have another damn minute to spare?" the man shoots back bitterly.

"I'll bring it to you, honey." Sheila answers, "Just go back to the TV, Darryl and I will be with you in a little bit, ok?"

Old Darryl nods his head and smiles. He turns around and slowly makes his way towards the couch. Another old man approaches the sisters as they stare at Sheila in shock.

"Did we just hear you call that old man Darryl?" Piper asks.

"Yeah…" Sheila laughs uncomfortably, "He's not the only one."

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asks as the old man walks closer to the sisters.

"Paige?" he calls out as he stretches his arm out to grab onto her.

Paige looks at her sisters in confusion and then walks closer to the man.

"Yeah, that's my name. Have we met?" Paige asks. She stares deeply into the man's eyes and then gasps as she figures out the answer.

"Yeah, that's the problem." Q says pointing to the old man, "I don't know how but this is Henry."

"Oh, my God." Paige gasps.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

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STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Dorian Gregory

Created by: Constance M. Burge

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TWELVE HOURS EARLIER

Numerous calming scenes of San Francisco are shown. The Island of Alcatraz is seen in the distance, the quick visual sweep of the Farallon Islands and the Gulf of the Farallones as the sun rises. The Halliwell Manor can be seen and within the Manor, Piper, Phoebe and Paige walk up the stairs to the attic. Right before they enter the attic, Piper stops her sisters.

"What?" Paige asks.

"Are we sure we want to do this? This is a can of worms we are about to open." Piper says.

"Piper, we don't have a choice and even if we did, Abaddon is up to something and we cannot turn a blind eye to it. We have to take charge and this is the beginning of it all." Phoebe answers.

Piper takes a deep breath and exhales sharply.

"You ready?" Paige asks.

Piper and Phoebe nod.

"Here goes nothing." Phoebe says as Piper steps into the attic and Piper and Paige follow her. They see Laylah sitting by the window, staring out the open window panes, completely lost in her thoughts.

"Hey, Laylah…" Phoebe begins to say but Laylah cuts her off.

"I know you have a lot of questions and I am prepared to give you all the answer to them all, if you are ready." Laylah says, still staring out of the window.

"We are. We are ready." Paige says.

"What do you want to know?" Laylah asks.

The Charmed Ones stare at each other and then stare at Laylah. Phoebe walks to the couch and sits down. Piper and Paige flank her on each side and sit down as well.

"For starters," Piper begins, "Who are you?"

"My name is Laylah but you guys already knew that." Laylah explains, "I'm sort of a god."

"I'm…I'm sorry." Phoebe stutters, "Did you say god?"

"More or less, yeah." Laylah explains.

"What are you a god of?" Paige asks.

"I am one of the gods of magic…or was. I don't even know anymore." Laylah answers.

"God of magic. Wow." Paige says in surprise.

"Wait, did you say _gods_? Plural?" Piper asks.

Laylah nods in response.

"My brothers and I are known as the Taxiarchs, the gods of magic."

"Gods of magic? Did you guys create magic?" Phoebe asks.

"No, we didn't." Laylah laughs, "We've been around since the beginning of time but magic existed way before then. My family just harnessed magic and molded it to fit a better purpose for the world."

"Wow. That's so cool." Paige whispers.

"You said your brothers; I'm thinking this includes Abaddon?" Piper assumes.

"Yes."

"Brothers..." Phoebe begins to ask, "Where are they now?"

Laylah takes a deep breath and stands up. She walks across the attic and turns around to face the sisters. A pensive look falls upon her face.

"All of them are dead. I think. All besides Abaddon." Laylah begins to explain, "There were six of us; Gambrel, Lennox, Azazel, Raieck, Abaddon and myself. Gambrel was the oldest and basically like the Zeus of us all. He kept everything in order and delegated everything to my brothers."

"What happened to them all?" Piper asks.

"Azazel disappeared before the Great War happened…"

"World War I?" Phoebe asks.

"No, the great battle between good and evil; the battle that established the grand design and made everything into what it is now." Laylah says.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asks.

"I was too young to remember exact details but about a millennia ago, my brothers lived harmoniously until Azazel disappeared. Shortly after that, Abaddon tried to overstep his boundaries in trying to have the balance of good and evil tipped in evil's favor. He created numerous demons, and bestowed great powers into the first demon he ever created and he became known as the Source of all Evil." Laylah says.

"Abaddon created the Source?!" Paige asks, struck with disbelief.

"Yes." Laylah answers, "After creating the Source, he then began to create his army of demons for a demonic takeover. Abaddon rose up against the rest of my brothers and the power struggle initiated the battle of good and evil. Gambrel was wounded badly and died. The rumor is that he relinquished his powers before he died."

"It wasn't a rumor. He transferred his powers into four stones." Piper says as she looks at her sisters, "The stones of Gambrel. We used it to turn into the dagger that helped vanquish the Del Mar brothers, remember?"

"The battle caused so much damage and claimed so many lives on both sides that the Elders and the Source joined forces and used their combined magic to imprison the remaining brothers in the demonic wasteland."

"Demonic wasteland?" Phoebe questions, "Why the demonic wasteland?"

"The only time a demon can visit the wasteland is only when they're vanquished; and no one from the side of good would dare visit the wasteland anyway. A paragon of good and a force of evil will need to combine their magic to bring them back." Laylah says.

"Uh huh…" Piper says with doubt, giving Laylah the side eye.

"If your brothers or at least the majority of them were good, why would the Elders conspire with the Source to imprison them?" Paige asks.

"They believed that they wielded too much power to make the balance work. The Elders and the Source agreed together that good cannot overpower evil and vice versa and the balance must always remain intact. They made a pact with the Angels of Destiny, Angels of Death, the Guardians of the Hollow, many magical beings to maintain the peace."

"Wow, that's a lot of information to take in." Phoebe sighs.

"Where were you during all of this? Why weren't you affected or imprisoned?" Paige asks.

"Abaddon saved me. He cloaked me from the magic of the Source and the Elders during the rebellion. I've been cloaked from all creatures this entire time unless I make my presence known to them. That was in effect until Abaddon returned." Laylah answers. "After my brothers were gone, I had to pick up the pieces and continue the work my brothers started. The day after the rebellion, I had a vision."

"You receive premonitions too?" Phoebe asks.

"No, I don't. That's why it was so strange to me when I did."

"What did you see?" Piper asks softly.

"I saw three powerful sister witches, women so powerfully charmed that demons quaked in fear at the mere mention of their name. Witches who will help maintain and establish the grand design to the point where good outweighs evil on the balance scale. Shortly after the battle, the Source began to renege on his part of the agreement and tried to eliminate threats on both sides in order to maintain his position as the Source." Laylah says.

"Of course he did." Paige says, rolling her eyes.

"Fearing that the Elders had lost the hope of losing to the Source, I projected the vision I had to the Elders and they spread the word of the prophecy about the Charmed Ones. That alone gave them hope and until centuries later, when a powerful witch was born on the most powerful night on All Hallows Eve, did their hope became reaffirmed." Laylah explains.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige look at each other in amazement and then look back at Laylah.

"Melinda Warren." Phoebe says with a smile.

"Yes. Dominus Trinus." Laylah says with a smile.

"Yeah, you keep saying that." Phoebe says, "What does that mean?"

Laylah walks to the podium on which the Book of Shadows lay. She smiles and looks at the sisters.

"The Journey. _Your_ magical journey." Laylah says as she opens the book to the first page. The sisters stand up and stand before the Book. They see the design of the page with the words "Dominus Trinus" inscribed on the side.

"The power activation spell…" Phoebe says as she runs her finger across the page.

"When you read the part of the spell that says ' _The oldest of gods are invoked here_ ', who did you think you were referring to?" Laylah says with a smile. "I led you into the attic that night 19 years ago."

"The message on the spirit board? Unlocking the attic? The light shining on the chest which held the Book? That was all you?" Phoebe asks.

"I thought it was Grams this whole time." Piper says.

"The flipping of the pages is your grandmother's doing. I cannot take the credit for that." Laylah says.

"I can't believe it. This is literally too much information to take in right now." Phoebe says as she walks to the couch and sits down.

"So if you said Abaddon was imprisoned with your brothers and it takes both good and evil to work together, who got them out?" Piper asks.

"I did...along with Sebastian." Laylah answers. The smiles on the sisters' faces disappear in an instant.

"You worked with Sebastian?" Paige asks.

"Yes, I did. I knew he was going to be vanquished by you three; I just needed to preserve his soul for a little bit in order to unlock the gates from the other side in the wasteland." Laylah explains, "The ritual required to free my brothers required the sacrifice and blood shed of three evil siblings in order to release the bonds. The Del Mar brothers were the perfect candidate."

"And because of your selfishness, look at the evil you unleashed upon the world." Piper snaps.

"I wanted my brothers back and that was a mistake. I know that now. Abaddon killed the rest of my brothers and took their powers and now he and I are the only ones remaining."

"So Abaddon is the one who stripped our powers?" Paige asks.

"I wouldn't put it past him." Laylah says.

"Why would he strip them though?" Phoebe asks, "If he's as powerful as you say, he could've stripped them for good."

"He either needs you distracted or he no longer has the power to strip you of your magic completely. Any regular witch, he might be able to do it, but as the Charmed Ones? The only way he could've completely stripped your powers was if he had the combined powers of all of my brothers and myself. But he doesn't have my powers, Azazel's and Gambrel's so most likely you can get your powers back." Laylah explains.

"So you can help us get our powers back then?" Paige asks with hope in her eyes.

"Yes." Laylah says, "But at a cost."

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asks.

"As the Charmed Ones, your destiny was fulfilled when you vanquished the Source but you have lost your way and it has been very evident for a very long time." Laylah says.

"I don't understand." Piper says in confusion.

"The power of three is the strongest magical connection in the universe. There is nothing that can destroy that bond. That powerful magic is rooted in your bond as sisters and you three seemed to have forgotten that."

"Wait a minute; you don't know anything about us to make that assumption." Piper says as her temper begins to rise.

"I know enough to know what I'm talking about. You are not witches who happen to be sisters; you are sisters who happen to be witches. In the past few years, you have made that bond fade and with it, your powers have been weakened." Laylah explains.

"That's not true." Phoebe defends herself.

"It is to my understanding that until recently, you had not had a conversation with your sisters in almost six years. Is that correct?" Laylah asks.

"That was a different situation." Paige jumps to her sister's defense but Laylah cuts her off.

"And you. You let your whitelighter duties overpower your wiccan ones. You have forgotten that you are a witch-whitelighter, not whitelighter-witch." Laylah snaps, "But I can't put it all on you. The Elders are partly to blame for this as well."

"Ok, I don't understand what's going on…" Phoebe says.

"The Elders rewarded you with powers you had not earned. The progression of your powers is supposed to be natural as your powers grow and instead they reward you all for not doing enough. Your dedication to the craft waned as the years went by and you all got too comfortable as the Elders kept granting you with powers you have no business in having." Laylah spouts.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Piper asks.

"When you and your sisters went to the future, your power could freeze an entire city block. In the present, your power 'grew' to blowing things up. That has no connection to your original power and in having that power, you and your sisters stopped relying on the power of three in order to vanquish demons. All three of you are supposed to be equally powerful; one sister is not supposed to have a power that will render the other sister's power useless. I understand that the magic of the eldest sister is supposed to be stronger but this defies the natural order."

"That is not our fault…" Paige says.

"It brings me back to my point, my main point. You all have grown lazy in your dedication to the craft and if you really want to go after my brother, that cannot be the case. You have to hit him with everything you've got. You have to remind yourselves what made you the great and powerful Charmed Ones to begin with."

"She's right." Phoebe admits.

"Excuse me?" Piper says in shock.

"Give us a moment." Phoebe says to Laylah as she pulls her sisters to the side.

"She is tearing us down and you're agreeing with her?" Paige asks.

"I don't like her delivery but she isn't wrong." Phoebe says, "Think about it. We have always tried to find an easy way out instead of fighting through. Examples? The avatars. We tried to use them to get rid of demons for us and it failed miserably. Then the year after that? We met Billie and we used her to fight our demons for us…"

"So that we can live normal lives." Piper adds.

"And look at how that turned out to be. We took a five and a half year hiatus from demons while Abaddon was doing God knows what because we were being selfish." Phoebe elaborates.

"We took a break for a good reason and you know it." Piper says.

"Phoebe, we deserve to live a life outside of being witches." Paige says.

"And that is her point. We are trying to live separate lives of who we are but we should embrace it and live it the way we are supposed to. Being witches made our bond stronger but ever since we started getting too comfortable, it changed our relationship, and you guys cannot deny it." Phoebe says, "We have forgotten what made us great in the first place and that's the truth of it."

"So what should we do?" Piper sighs.

"We let Laylah whip us back into shape and try our hardest to be back to the way we were before. We were at our best back then, and we're supposed to be better over time but we're not. This is a second chance to do it right, so let's do it." Phoebe says.

"I may agree with the powers thing but I don't agree with the sister relationship thing." Piper says.

"Piper…" Paige begins to say but Piper cuts her off.

"No. She can comment on our magic because she's the goddess of magic or whatever but she doesn't have a right to come here after our children saved _her_ from her brother, and _I_ nursed her back to health for her to come criticize my relationship with my sisters? I'm not having it!" Piper snaps.

"Fine. Let's just get our powers first and then carry on from there, ok?" Paige says trying to get her sisters on the same page.

"Sure." Piper rolls her eyes.

The Charmed Ones turn to face Laylah, who sits before them comfortably.

"We're in. What do we have to do?" Paige asks.

Laylah looks at the book and then at the sisters, "All you have to do is read the incantation."

"Hold it!" Piper yells, "And what is this ' _cost_ ' you speak of?"

"You will not have your secondary powers anymore; Piper, you will only be able to freeze. Phoebe, you can only have visions. Paige, you will only be able to move things with your mind and orb." Laylah explains.

"No. We're not doing it." Piper protests.

"Piper…" Phoebe tries to calm her sister down but Piper is not hearing it.

"No, we're not doing this! You will no longer have an active power, Phoebe. Remember how badly you wanted one?" Piper says.

"Piper, if this is what it takes for us to get our powers back, then I'm willing to do it." Phoebe says.

"We're basically starting from scratch, Phoebe. We have put in too much work for it all to be stripped away from us like this." Piper argues.

"Your powers will grow as you learn to be dependent on each other; the results will be better than what you had yesterday." Laylah reassures them.

With doubt written all over her face, Piper looks to her sisters and then to Laylah. Piper walks to the podium and then looks up at Laylah angrily. Phoebe and Paige join her and then Laylah walks to them, standing opposite of the Charmed Ones and nods her head. The sisters join hands, forming a circle and then begin the chant:

" _Hear now the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night.  
The oldest of Gods are invoked here; the great work of magic is sought.  
In this night and in this hour, I'll call upon the ancient power.  
Bring your powers to we sisters three  
We want the power  
Give us the power._"

The Victorian mansion begins to rumble and the chandelier begins to emit the familiar blue and white light. The Book of Shadows begins to glow and then in just an instant, the glow fades.

"Did it work?" Paige asks.

"What do you think?" Laylah asks, as she steps aside, "Try it."

Paige looks around and sees a candle on the other side of the room resting on a table. She holds her hand out and just like she did for the very first time she used her power on command, she tries to summon the candle to her hoping to see the candle covered in blue and white orbs.

"Candle!" she calls but nothing happens. She stares at her sisters and then at Laylah, who smiles and nods at her, telling her to try again.

"Candle!" Paige calls out again but the candle still sits on the table.

"It didn't work!" Piper says as she looks at Laylah angrily.

"Great, now I lost my powers for good." Paige says, feeling defeated, "What a waste of my time!"

Placing emphasis on the final word, Paige waves her hand and the candle flies off the table and into the wall, breaking in half.

"What the…" Paige says in confusion, "What the hell did you do to my powers?"

"I didn't do anything to your powers. I just merely restored what was originally meant to be. You are a witch who happens to have whitelighter blood. The whitelighter side of you was a dominant part of your powers before. Not anymore. You just have regular telekinesis, although the whitelighter in you can boost your powers to become stronger than the average witch."

"I don't know how I feel about this." Paige says as she walks to the couch, "I need to lie down."

"Can she still orb?" Phoebe asks.

"She should be able to." Laylah answers.

"What else have you done to us?" Piper asks angrily.

"You can no longer vanquish demons by blowing them up. You don't even possess that power anymore." Laylah answers, "You require the power of three to vanquish any demon that requires a spell or potion to vanquish them."

"How can we create a power of three potion?" Phoebe asks.

"By blessing the potion with all three of your blood combined." Laylah answers.

"This is ridiculous…" Piper says.

"We have been through worse, Piper." Phoebe says, "It's better than having no powers at all."

"You know what, Phoebe? You need to stop being the peace maker and choose a damn side. You're right with that sisterhood bond we have. There was a time you would've been on my side through everything but now? Wish I could say the same."

"Piper…" Phoebe calls.

"No, forget it." Piper says as she walks out of the attic.

"No, just leave her." Laylah says, "She'll come to her senses. The sad thing is that something drastic is going to happen before she does.

"Come on." Phoebe says as she walks to Paige, extending her hand for her to grab hold, "We have to get the kids to school."

Paige groans as she lazily places her palm into Phoebe's and stands up. The sisters walk out of the attic, leaving Laylah behind, satisfied with the progress of her new mission.

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Chris, Wyatt and Dom jump out of the car and look back as Paige and Phoebe wave at them in return. Paige drives off and the three boys begin to walk towards their high school.

"What are you guys doing on Friday?" Dom asks, "The new Fast and the Furious 8 movie comes out and I'm not trying to miss it."

"Of course you're not trying to miss it. You're obsessed over that played out movie and it doesn't help that you and the main character share the same name." Chris says.

"It is not played out. You just do not have a good vision for good movies." Dom shoots back.

"The movie has worn out its welcome. They should have stopped after the second one but commercialism kept the franchise going. No movie should produce more than three movies within a franchise. It's an unwritten rule." Chris says.

"Well, Toy Story is coming out with a fourth part, and Pirates of the Caribbean is coming out with a fifth and I didn't see you complaining when you saw the trailer for that one." Dom laughs.

"Toy Story can do no wrong. They're clearly the exception." Wyatt says defensively, "As for the Pirates, you know I have a soft spot for pirates so don't include them."

Chris and Dom laugh at Wyatt's comment.

"Well, the fast and furious movies do not value quality so they will not see a dime out of me." Chris says, putting his foot down.

"What about you, Wy?" Dom says as he turns to Wyatt.

"I, uh…" Wyatt begins to say but he sees Bianca approaching them, "Incoming."

"Hey, Wyatt and Chris…" Bianca greets.

"And Dom?" Dom interjects, "Of course you will ignore the handsome one in the group but I ain't mad."

"I see that yesterday's issue has been resolved." Bianca says with a smile, looking at Dom.

"What do you want, Bianca?" Chris asks.

"Not the warm welcome I was expecting from you but I just wanted to follow up on you guys. We need to talk." Bianca says.

"Talk about what?" Wyatt asks.

"Something that will benefit all three of us." Bianca responds.

"Just because you helped us yesterday doesn't mean that we need you now." Chris says, looking at Bianca angrily.

"You know Chris? Other people would be grateful if I had saved their lives. Maybe you need a lesson in gratitude." Bianca spits.

"And you need a lesson in humility. I heard that can go a long way." Chris claps back.

Bianca takes a deep breath and looks at Dom and Wyatt.

"Well, Wyatt? I guess if you want to talk, shoot me a text." Bianca says as she takes out her phone, "I will air drop my number into yours."

"How do you know my number?" Wyatt asks.

"I'm good at what I do." Bianca replies as she puts her phone away "Don't be a stranger."

Bianca smiles and walks away.

"So what the hell was that all about?" Dom asks, "Did something happen yesterday that I missed or…?"

"Nothing happened." Wyatt says, "Don't worry about it."

"Right…" Dom says with his doubt echoing in his voice, "I'm just going to go ahead and grab something from my locker. I'll see you in homeroom."

"Sure." Wyatt says as he watches Dom walk away.

"What's up with you?" Wyatt asks.

"What's up with _you_?" Chris repeats back, "There's something about that girl I don't trust and you clearly cannot see it."

"She helped us save Dom and basically saved us in the process. Why are you being so rude?"

"So conjuring energy balls and throwing them at a couple of vampires automatically throws her in our good graces?" Chris asks, "I feel like she was waiting for the most opportune time to come for us and we gave her that yesterday, it was too good to be true."

"You're such a cynic, Chris." Wyatt says, "Why can't we just hear her out?"

"I just don't trust her. Unless she gives me a reason to trust her, I'm staying away from her." Chris says as he begins to walk away, "I'm going to be late for class, I'll see you later."

"Will I see you at lunch today?" Wyatt yells at a departing Chris.

"Nope. I have a date for lunch." Chris shouts back.

Wyatt watches in confusion and then follows him into the school.

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The sunlight shines brightly across the San Francisco Police Department, with the leaves of the trees blowing gently in the wind. Inside the police station, Darryl walks into the police station with a Q by his side, with his hands handcuffed behind him. Q struggles to break free but Darryl shoves him into his seat and he squats in front of him.

"So are we going to behave now or am I going to have to throw you in a holding cell?" Darryl asks.

"You can do whatever you want to do, man. I don't care." Q says as he rolls his eyes.

Darryl laughs and then sighs, "I know your kind of people."

"Oh yeah? What is that?"

"The kind of kid who acts tough, but on the inside you're as soft as hell." Darryl says.

"Is that what you think?" Q asks with a cocky smile.

"That is what I know. I've been where you are, man. How old are you? Sixteen? Seventeen?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out." Q snaps back.

"Right." Darryl says as he looks at the door and sees Henry standing there looking around. He stands up and signals one of his men to his side.

"Watch him; don't let him leave your sight." Darryl says as he steps aside.

"Yes, Captain." The police man says. The police man stands in front of Q and Q slouches in his seat in defiance.

Darryl walks towards Henry taps him on the shoulder, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Darryl, thank God." Henry says with a sigh of relief, "I received a call that you brought one of my parolees here? Quinton Taylor?"

"I don't know who Quinton is but I just brought in that kid over there." Darryl says, pointing towards Q.

"Yeah, that's him." Henry says as he marches towards Q. Q sees an angry Henry walking towards him and he sits up quickly. Henry stands before Q and folds his arms, letting his gaze do all the talking.

"Before you say anything, Henry, it's not my fault…" Q begins to explain.

"And you know what's funny? I've heard all of this before, Q." Henry says as his frustration is evident via his furrowed eyebrows, "Whose fault was it this time?"

"This young dude is after me, man. I swear…"

"And you ended up breaking into a jewelry store for protection?" Henry asks.

"I can't explain it. That wasn't really the case. I saw in my dream that I had to go there for something, and I did." Q explains.

"A dream?" Darryl asks.

Q nods his head in response.

Henry and Darryl look at each other.

"Can you do me a favor and let me handle this without any police problems? He's already on probation and this will only make it worse." Henry pleads.

Darryl sighs and then looks at Q. "You're lucky Henry's here to bail you out. Next time I catch you, you won't be so fortunate."

Darryl looks at his police man, "Uncuff him, please."

"Thanks, Darryl." Henry says.

The policeman unlocks the handcuffs and steps aside. Q rubs his wrists with relief and flashes a smile of victory towards Darryl. Henry grabs him by the collar and drags him outside.

Henry pushes Q through the double doors of the SFPD and Q stumbles down the stairs, grabbing onto the railing to stabilize himself.

"What the hell, Henry?!" Q yells, "Are you trying to kill me?"

"Killing you would be doing you a favor compared to what I have in mind." Henry says, seething, "What the hell is wrong with you, Quinton? Do you really not care about your life that much that you're willing to throw it all away over stupid stuff?"

"I told you, man. I had a dream about the jewelry store and when I woke up, I was there. I can't explain it."

"Of all the excuses I have ever heard, that is the craziest and laziest one I have ever heard." Henry says as he walks down the stairs and towards his car.

"Man, don't anybody believe me!" Q says as he grunts angrily.

"Get in the car; I'll take you to school. If I ever catch you in the precinct again, you'll be begging for death." Henry says as he sits in his car and unlocks the other side. A chain hangs loose around Q's neck. He quickly tucks it in his shirt and then gets into the car.

A young man dressed in all black stands in the shadows, watching the car drive away. He walks into the light and sees a couple of police officers walking out of the station, chatting without noticing him. He turns around to walk away and he bumps into another officer walking into the station.

"Hey, watch where you're going." The officer spits at him.

The man turns around and stares at the officer with a menacing look. The officer walks up to him.

"You look like you've got something to say. Do we have a problem?" the officer asks with his tone as threatening as ever.

The man smiles and raises his hand with his palm facing up. He walks closer to the officer as a dark orange smoke forms in his palm, and the officer inhales it. The man steps back and watches the officer look down as his skin begins to into wrinkles. His hair underneath his cover begins to turn grey and fall out.

"Enjoy your golden years…" the man finally whispers with a smile as he disappears from sight in a puff of dark orange smoke.

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Mellie sits in the school library typing on the computer. She adds finishing touches on her flyer and smiles when she looks at the finished product. Tricia walks into the library. She looks up at sees a heavy set woman wearing glasses with thick lenses, and her grey and black hair pulled into a bun. With her spectacles resting on her pointed nose, her eyes glared daggers at Tricia whose footsteps echoed loudly through the quiet library. She sits next to Mellie with a stack of folders and books.

"This school is too big. It took me forty five minutes before I found this place, and that was _after_ you texted me your location." Tricia says, trying to catch her breath.

"Shhh!" the librarian hisses as she briefly looks in Tricia's direction and then shifts her eyes back to her book.

"Sorry." Tricia whispers. She looks at Mellie, who has barely taken her eyes off of the computer screen and Tricia looks at the computer screen.

"What are you doing?" Tricia asks.

"I'm just making a few adjustments to the flyers you made. More like additions, really." Mellie answers.

"Wait, why?" Tricia asks, "Aren't you happy with my work? I have an idea to expand past that…"

"I am. Don't get me wrong. You helped me reach the people in class who wouldn't give me a second glance, helped me rewrite my speech and brought forward a few concerns that I had not even thought to include in my campaign." Mellie explains.

"So what's the problem?" Tricia asks.

"There's no problem. I'm just tuning it to suit my personality a little bit more." Mellie laughs nervously.

"I know your personality, Mellie. That flyer is perfect." Tricia says.

"You've only known me for a month and some change. Let's be real, you don't know me." Mellie chuckles absent-mindedly. She turns to look at Tricia and sees Tricia staring back at her in disbelief.

"Tricia, I'm sorry. It didn't come out right. I…"

"No, it's ok. Clearly, you knew me long enough for you to ask me to help you with this entire thing but not long enough to make it all stick." Tricia says as she stands up and walks away.

"Tricia, come on!" Mellie yells.

"Shhh!" the librarian sounds off again.

"Ugh!" Mellie sighs as she folds her arms on the desk and rests her head on them out of frustration.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The exterior of P3 is shown with Piper and Leo's cars parked outside. Inside the club, Piper paces back and forth with Leo sitting at the desk, reading and typing up documents.

"And Phoebe agreed with her!" Piper screeches, "I couldn't believe what I was hearing."

"Ok, I don't understand. You got your powers back. Why is that such a problem?" Leo asks.

"Have you not been listening?" Piper begins, "Laylah took away my offensive power. _Our_ offensive powers and Paige and Phoebe just let it happen like nothing."

"So you would rather have no powers at all instead of the one power? Is that what you're saying?" Leo asks.

"No, Leo. I would rather have the power that I _earned_ given back to me. She has no right to take away the power." Piper rants as she paces back and forth.

"She's a Taxiarch; I think you should trust that she knows what she's doing." Leo says as he continues to type on the computer.

"Not you too, Leo." Piper cries, "Why have you forsaken me?"

"I'm not choosing a side. I'm just saying that it sounds like Laylah was right and she did what she did with good reasons. Just remember that she didn't take away your powers but only gave back what she granted to you in the first place." Leo explains.

"What do you mean?" Piper asks as she stops pacing.

"Your power to freeze was prophesized. The Elders gave you the power to blow things up afterwards. Maybe she doesn't have the power to give you that which the Elders gave to you. I remember back in the old days, you guys used to do everything together but now, that's not the case." Leo says, as he stops typing and focuses on Piper.

"Do you agree with her saying that the power of three is not as strong as it used to be?" Piper asks.

"I'm just saying that the power of three is rooted in your bond as sisters and you know as well as I do that it has been faltering for the last decade or so. You guys have become reliant on your offensive power and also started picking and choosing which innocents were worth saving and which ones were a convenience."

"So if you felt this way, how come you didn't say anything to me at all?" Piper asks.

"Have you ever tried to talk to _you_ about _you_?" Leo laughs, "You Halliwells are extremely stubborn."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Leo." Piper says as she begins to pace back and forth.

"Right, of course I don't." Leo says as he turns his chair to face the computer. He begins to type again.

"Wait a minute…" Piper says as she stops pacing. A smile grows on her face.

Leo looks at Piper for a second and a hit of realization dawns on Leo.

"Piper?"

"I have to go."

"Piper?"

"I love our talks, always gives me clarity." Piper says as she walks away from Leo.

"Piper!"

"Love you, honey! I'll see you later for dinner!" Piper says as she runs up the stairs, and exits the club.

Leo sighs and shakes his head with a smile.

"Stubborn that one…" he mutters to himself.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Paige opens the door to her house and with feet dragging across the floor, she tosses the keys onto the table and falls face first onto the couch. She rolls onto her back and sighs heavily. She looks at the vase sitting on top of the cabinet by the television. She sits up and sighs as she points her finger at the vase.

"Move!" she says but the vase doesn't budge.

She flicks her fingers and the vase slides to the right of the cabinet. She flicks her fingers once more and the vase slides back to its original position. She groans and buries her face in her couch cushions. In an instant, her doorbell chimes and echoes through the house.

"Go away." She says loudly but the couch cushions muffle her voice.

"Paige, it's me." Billie yells from outside.

Paige groans and stands up. She walks to her door, opens the door and heads back towards the couch. She drops herself onto the couch and Billie walks up to Paige and sits down.

"What's wrong with you?" Billie laughs.

"I don't want to talk about it." Paige whines.

"Ok…" Billie says, with uncertainty, "Did you at least get your powers back?"

"Kind of." Paige mumbles.

"What do you mean?" Billie asks.

Paige sits up and looks at the vase she was moving around earlier.

"You see that vase on top of the cabinet?" Paige asks.

Billie nods in response.

"Watch." Paige says. With a flick of her finger, Paige slides the vase telekinetically to the right.

"Whoa." Billie says as her eyes widen in surprise, "How is that possible? Is that like a side effect or something?"

"Nope. Apparently, I'm a witch-whitelighter, not a whitelighter-witch so she made my powers less whitelighter influenced." Paige explains.

"She who? Laylah?" Billie asks.

"Bingo!"

"Can she do that?" Billie asks.

"Apparently she can. She's a goddess of magic." Paige answers.

"I didn't quite catch that. A goddess of what?!"

"You heard right. She's a Taxiarch."

"Taxiarch? Are you sure? I thought they were extinct." Billie says.

"Apparently not." Paige says, "Wait, how do you know about them?"

"Remember back when we were dealing with The Anointed Ones? The Taxiarchs the ones who prophesied and blessed their anointed ones with their purpose. I researched them after shortly after our encounter with them." Billie explains.

"Well, apparently we are sort of on punishment so we have to earn our abilities back." Paige says sarcastically.

" _Our_ abilities? This happened to Phoebe and Piper too?" Billie asks.

"Yup. The new and improved Charmed Ones." Paige says with a false grin.

"Wow." Billie gasps, "So what are you going to do now?"

"Nothing." Paige whines, "Just sit here and wallow in my misery."

"Nope." Billie says as she stands up and grabs Paige's hand, trying to get her to stand up, "We're getting you out of this house."

"And do what exactly?" Paige asks.

"Demon hunting."

"There are no demons to hunt!" Paige groans.

"With my new app, we can find some and figure out where they all went. Come on, Paige. I need you to come with me." Billie says.

"No!"

"Paige, come on! Don't be stubborn." Billie strains as she tries to pick up Paige from the couch.

"No! I don't even know how to control this power. I'm useless." Paige cries.

"Nope. I have the same power, remember?" Billie says, "I can help you harness it just like helped me."

Paige stands up and stares at Billie, "You promise?"

"Yeah." Billie whispers.

"The student has become the teacher." Paige says with a smile.

"Don't think so but ok. Can you still orb?" Billie asks.

"I don't know. I haven't tried." Paige says.

"Well, this is the perfect time." Billie says as she grabs Paige's hand.

"Where's the destination?" Paige asks.

"The underworld." Billie says with a smile.

Paige closes her eyes as blue and white orbs form around her and engulf both herself and Billie as they disappear from the living room.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Phoebe stands at the door of the Bay Mirror and stares at the door knob with great trepidation. She closes her eyes and looks around for a second.

"Come on, Phoebe. It's now or never." She whispers to herself. Finally Phoebe musters up the courage to turn the door knob and enters her former place of employment. She walks in slowly, noticing that the once busy newspaper seems less busy. All eyes fall on her as she marches her way towards Elise's office. She turns back to see everyone in the office with hope in their eyes, shining back towards her. She smiles nervously and knocks on Elise's door nervously.

"Come in." Elise says, unaware of who is on the other side of the door.

Phoebe opens the door and closes it behind her gently.

"Hi, Elise." Phoebe smiles.

"Phoebe!" Elise says as her face lights up. She tries to cover her exuberant expression and changes her tone, but Phoebe could see through it all.

"What brings you by?" Elise asks.

"Um, Elise…" Phoebe begins to say, "I am so sorry."

"For what?" Elise asks.

"For leaving. For the newspaper being the way it is. You invested so much time and money into building my brand and I just up and left you guys behind and I want to apologize for that." Phoebe says.

"Phoebe, you don't have to apologize. I didn't expect you to be here the entire time. I basically encouraged you to go out there and reach your best potential, and you made me happy and proud when you actually accomplished it." Elise smiles as she stands up, "You don't have to apologize. You did what I wanted you to do."

Phoebe looks down and smiles. She looks back up at Elise and takes a deep breath.

"I was wondering…" Phoebe begins to say, "If you are willing to have me, I would love to come back to work for you."

Elise's eyes light up with glee like a child on Christmas morning.

"Are you sure?" Elise asks.

"I mean, I will only come back on a few conditions." Phoebe says.

"Anything, you name it." Elise says, with her eagerness shining though her smile.

"Hire back everyone you have had to fire in the last few years. I want the same crew I used to work with back with us. We're a family. I want us to have that comradery in the workplace." Phoebe says.

"Done." Elise spits, "That's all?"

"And I get to have a say in what I have to participate in. I don't want to do anything I don't feel comfortable doing." Phoebe says.

"No problem." Elise says.

Elise extends her hand for a handshake. Phoebe smiles and shakes Elise's hand.

"Welcome back." Elise says.

"It's good to be back." Phoebe smiles as she turns around and walks out. Phoebe walks through the office exits the Bay Mirror while the entire office watches her with bated breath.

Elise runs out of the office and without wasting any time, shouts: "She's back!"

The entire office screams with jubilee and Phoebe smiles as the elevator doors opens and she steps inside. She hears the sounds of rejoice and cheering from down the hall as the elevator doors close.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

As the sun sits in the middle of the sky beaming across the city, a man walks into the Bank of San Francisco and looks around. A bank teller approaches him with a smile.

"Welcome to the BSF. How may I assist you today?" the teller asks.

"I'm here to make a withdrawal from my safe deposit box. It is box 734." The man answers.

"Well, please follow me and we will get you started." The teller says as he directs the man to the customer to the back.

After exchanging information and a few necessary correspondences, the teller opens the safe in the back and walks in. He turns on the lights and the man follows him inside. The wall to their left is a green wall of safe deposit boxes labeled numerically. The teller walks alongside the deposit boxes and reads the numbers as he searches for the number he is looking for.

"Aha!" he exclaims as he walks closer to the wall, "Box number 734. Do you have your key?"

"Yes. Yes I do." The customer says with a smile.

"Very well, I will let you have your privacy. If you need me, I will be out there." The teller says with a creepy people pod smile.

The man waves his hand dismissively and walks to his deposit box. He unlocks the door, takes out his box and places it on the table. The man unlocks his deposit box and gently lifts the lid. Within the box lay a beautifully carved handle made out of dark red micarta, and the blade itself shone in a dark green emerald with a Latin inscription engraved into the side of the blade. The man grabs the handle and examines it closely. As soon as he averts his eyes, the man in black from before appears before him in a cloud of dark orange smoke with a smile.

"Thank you." He says in a sinister tone.

A loud gasp is heard and Q wakes in a pool of his own drool surrounded by his peers, who are pointing and laughing at him. Unaware of his current location, he looks around and realizes that he fell asleep in class at school. He wipes the drool off his face with his sleeve and sees his teacher approach him.

"You know if the class bores you that much Mr. Taylor, I can send you to the principal's office for a much better lecture." The teacher says as she folds her arms.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Ketch. It won't happen again." Q says apologetically.

Mrs. Ketch turns around and walks towards the front of the class.

"So Susan B. Anthony worked with Frederick Douglass and became close friends…" she continues with her voice fading away as Q's mind is filled with numerous questions about the dream he just had.

" _Who was that man? What was that knife? Why am I having these nightmares? What do they mean?_ " he asks himself. He shakes his head and shifts his attention back to Mrs. Ketch, putting his dream out of his mind temporarily. He absentmindedly plays with the key attached to the chain around his neck.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The school bell rings and the students run out of their class; transitioning from one period of class to the next. Wyatt walks out of his class and walks right around the corner to his locker only to find Bianca standing there waiting. He sighs deeply and rolls his eyes.

"Wow, really?" Bianca asks as she steps aside, "Twenty four hours ago, you couldn't take your eyes off of me."

"I'm still trying to formulate an idea of who you really are." Wyatt says as he begins to spin the dial to his locker.

"How many times do I have to tell you and Chris? I am a witch, just like you." Bianca defends herself.

"Ok, if you say so." Wyatt says.

"Listen, the reason why I came to you is because I found an abandoned warehouse close to my house and I turned it into a practice place for demon fighting and basic witchcraft training. I think you guys should join me." Bianca says.

"No, we're good. Thank you." Wyatt declines.

"Come on, Wyatt. I can do bad all by myself but I think we can get a better handle on our powers with advanced training. I know you can conjure up illusions and stuff like that so it can make the training experience more real. You can benefit from it too. I doubt that you get any time of training at home at all." Bianca says.

Wyatt takes a deep breath and opens his locker. He places his books inside and closes the locker. He turns to Bianca.

"Training, you say?" Wyatt asks.

"Yup, a place where we can exercise our powers with no supervision or interruptions. Try to recruit your brother too. He's really smart; he can help us with the spells, potions and knowledge on demons and stuff like that." Bianca pleads as she walks away, "Check your phone!"

Wyatt's phone vibrates and he opens up the received text message which reads: '6106 Pilgrim Avenue'. Wyatt looks up again and sighs heavily.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Paige orbs into the underworld with Billie by her side. Paige looks around and then shivers.

"I really think that this is a bad idea." Paige says.

"Oh, relax." Billie says with a lukewarm tone, "We've dealt with worse things than this. We will be fine."

"And every time someone says something like that, the worst actually happens." Paige says.

"Since when did you become extremely paranoid?" Billie asks as she takes out her phone.

"Since my powers got stripped and now I have powers I don't know how to handle."

"You've always had it; you just had a different version of it. You will be fine. Trust in yourself and in your powers, Paige." Billie says.

Paige nods and then the pair begins to walk through the underworld.

"Any luck with that app?" Paige asks.

"Give me a second, I have to wait for it to load and scan the area." Billie answers.

"Got to admire the range on that thing, Billie. You did a good job with it."

"Got to wait to see if it will work or not." Billie says as the phone lights up and begins to scan.

Paige walks alongside Billie, waiting patiently for a response. A moment later, the phone begins to beep.

"Oh my God." Billie whispers.

"What? What is it?" Paige asks as she leans in closer.

"There are demons everywhere." Billie says.

"Where?!" Paige asks as she jumps and looks around nervously.

"They're ahead of us but we can't see them. You think they're shielded from us?" Billie asks.

"Shielded? Maybe. Laylah did say that Abaddon shielded her from the Elders and no one can see her unless she made herself known. Maybe that's what Abaddon did to the demons." Paige wonders.

"Yeah but to _all_ demons everywhere? He can't be that powerful." Billie says as she rolls her eyes.

"Apparently, he's a god of magic so I won't be surprised." Paige says as she continues to look around.

"Wait, what?!" Billie asks.

"Yeah. Abaddon is Laylah's brother so he's a Taxiarch." Paige says.

"Great. So what do we do now?" Billie asks.

Paige looks at Billie and begins to answer her when she hears an explosion and sparks flying in the distance.

"Well, ask and you shall receive." Billie says.

"Wait, you're not going to go over there, are you?" Paige asks.

"Uh yeah. That's the reason why we're down here, Paige." Billie says as she runs towards the commotion. Paige groans and runs after her. Entering a cave, they see three demons and a hooded figure battling.

The demons throw energy balls towards the hooded figure but the hooded figure performs back flips and ducks with the energy balls hitting the wall.

"They need some help." Billie says as she lunges forward but Paige holds her back.

"We don't know who is good and who is evil. Let's wait it out." Paige says.

"Paige!"

"Wait it out." Paige repeats.

They watch as the hooded figure engages in hand to hand combat with the three demons. The hooded figure pulls out a dagger from underneath the cloak and stabs one of the demons. The demon screams in agony as he engulfs in flames and explodes. The hooded figure tosses a potion towards the second demon and chants in a soft feminine voice, " _Foedo_ ". The demon begins to choke and to swell up and explodes in a blink of an eye. The third demon shimmers out of the underworld as the hooded figure draws her dagger again.

"Damn it!" she screams.

"I told you she didn't need our help." Paige says with a smile.

"We could've done something though." Billie replies.

The hooded figure sees the two witches standing before her.

"Who are you?" Billie asks.

The hooded figure takes off the hood to her ensemble and reveals herself to them. Billie and Paige's eyes widen as they look at each other and then back at the woman. A dark haired beauty with eyes as blue as the clearest ocean in the world, she whispers with her thin glossed lips.

"Hello, Billie….Paige." she smiles.

"Laura?" Paige says in shock. Laura looks at them both as her grin grows.

"We need to talk." She sighs.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Q walks into the Bank of San Francisco and a bank teller approaches him with a smile.

"Welcome to the BSF. How may I assist you today?" the teller asks.

"I'm here to make a withdrawal from my safe deposit box." Q answers in a trance, with his eyes dilated.

"Do you know what your box number is and do you have the key to the box?" the teller asks.

"Box number 734." Q says as he takes out the key hanging around his neck.

"Well, please follow me and we will get you started." The teller says as he directs Q to the customer to the back.

After exchanging information and a few necessary correspondences, the teller opens the safe in the back and walks in.

"For verification purposes, I need a state ID. Can I see yours?" the teller asks.

"I didn't bring it with me." Q answers.

"Please stand out here for me for a second and I will need to consult with the branch manager. I will be with you in a second." The teller says as he walks away.

Q walks into the safe absent mindedly and searches for Box 734. He arrives at his intended box and he unlocks the door, takes out his box and places it on the table. Q unlocks his deposit box and gently lifts the lid. Within the box lay a beautifully carved handle made out of dark red micarta, and the blade itself shone in a dark green emerald with a Latin inscription engraved into the side of the blade. Q grabs the handle and examines it closely. As soon as he averts his eyes, the man in black from before appears before him in a cloud of dark orange smoke with a smile.

"Thank you." He says in a sinister tone.

"You!" Q yells as he snaps out of his little trance.

"Hand over what is mine and you will not be harmed." The man says.

"I don't even know who you are." Q says.

"That doesn't matter. We need to hurry up before the teller comes back. Hand me the blade." The man says as he opens his palm to receive the blade.

Q stretches his arm and motions to place the blade in the man's open palm. He hesitates and backs away.

"No."

"Very well." The man says. He waves his hand at Q and Q flies into the wall, dropping the blade on the ground. The teller runs into the safe and sees Q on the ground and sees the man in the safe walking towards Q.

"Who are you?" the teller asks.

"Don't you worry about me." The man says as he hurls a cloud of dark orange smoke at the teller. The teller begins to cough as he falls to his knees. The teller falls to the ground, unconscious. The man hears numerous footsteps approaching. Conceding, he waves his hand and disappears in his cloud of smoke. Q struggles to stand up and grabs the knife. He rushes to the teller and checks his pulse. A security guard runs to the safe and a few more follow him. They see the teller unconscious with Q kneeling beside him with the blade.

"Roman, call downtown." The security guard says to one of his colleagues and then walks up to Q with handcuffs, "Sir, stand up and come with me."

Q takes a deep breath and exhales sadly.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

" _Powers of the witches rise,  
A Founder now I wish to see.  
In the skies where you reside,  
I summon thee, so hear my plea._"

As Piper finishes chanting her spell from the Book of Shadows, golden white lights dance around in the air swirling about until a woman materializes. An older woman, dressed in golden white robes with short dirty blonde hair appears before her.

"Hello, Sandra." Piper smiles.

"Hello, Piper." Sandra replies, "Long time."

"Yeah, I kind of made it my mission to avoid contacting you guys unless it was a really dire situation so as you can imagine, it's pretty dire right now." Piper says as she folds her arms.

"You closed yourself to us twice in the last ten years so I don't think we have anything to talk about." Sandra says.

" _We_ closed ourselves to _you_?" Piper asks in a stern tone, "You abandoned us when we fought Zankou so when we got out of that situation ourselves, what did we need to contact you for? Even after I contacted you guys regarding the Angel of Death and Leo, you had a chance to redeem yourselves but still left us hanging during the ultimate battle with Billie and Christy. So you may want to rethink what position you guys are in when it comes to who abandoning whom."

Sandra takes a deep breath as she swallows a lump in her throat, "How may I be of assistance?"

"I don't know if you know what's going on but we have had our powers stripped and I was wondering if you could bring them back for us." Piper asks.

"Stripped? By whom?" Sandra asks.

"Laylah."

"Who's Laylah?" Sandra asks.

"She says she's a goddess of magic and when Abaddon took our powers, she only gave us back the primary ones." Piper explains.

"Wait, Abaddon? Abaddon is back?" Sandra asks as her eyes widen in surprise.

"You guys don't know? What the hell do you guys do on your lofty perch up there?" Piper asks, as her agitation grows, "Yes, Abaddon is back. He's been in hiding for over ten years and he took our powers."

"We have an agent out here doing research but we have not heard any reports." Sandra answers, "And Laylah?"

"Yes, Laylah. Laylah is Abaddon's sister." Piper explains.

"She's alive? We feared her dead after the battle so long ago since no one had seen her ever since. How is this possible?"

"I should be asking how you guys have no clue about what's going on down here." Piper says as she rolls her eyes.

"Well, I will take that information back to the other Elders and confer. We will let you know what to do from there." Sandra says.

"Wait, what about our powers?" Piper asks.

"If a Taxiarch took your powers away, they're the only ones who can give them back. They're more powerful than us and that is a terrifying thought in and of itself." Sandra says.

"So my exploding power, my sister's power to levitate. You can't give that back to us?" Piper asks.

"Those were not progressions of your primary powers; they were a reward for all that you did. We cannot give them back to you if the Taxiarch took them away." Sandra explains.

"Great." Piper sighs with disappointment.

"We will be in touch." Sandra says as she orbs out.

"Well, that was useless." Piper says as she slams the book shut. Paige orbs into the attic with Billie and Laura.

"Laura? What the hell is going on?" Piper asks as her eyes shift from Laura to Paige.

"We have to talk. Where's Phoebe?" Paige asks.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Wyatt walks through the cafeteria during lunch hour, in search for his brother. He walks to his table where Bianca awaits him.

"Where have you been?" Bianca asks.

"I just got here, relax." Wyatt scoffs.

"Well, did you talk to your brother yet?" Bianca asks.

"No. I'm looking for him right now. Have you seen him?" Wyatt asks as his eyes search the room.

"Nope." Bianca answers, "So I take it that you're on board?"

"Yeah, I'm on board." Wyatt responds. His eyes fall upon Bianca's face, who is wearing a wide grin, "Can you not look so happy?"

"I can't help it." Bianca says.

"When's the first training?" Wyatt asks.

"Today after school." Bianca answers.

"Can't make it. I have football practice today." Wyatt says as he sees Dom and waves for him to come closer.

"Ok, so then tomorrow after school then." Bianca says as she stands up, "Maybe by then, you'll have convinced Chris."

"Don't hold your breath." Wyatt says.

Dom takes a seat.

"See you later, Wyatt. Hey, Dom." Bianca says as she walks away.

"Hey…" Dom says softly watching Bianca walk away and then looks at Wyatt, "What's going on tomorrow after school?"

"Nothing." Wyatt answers quickly, "Have you seen Chris?"

"Yeah, he was leaving the school. Something about he has an important date." Dom answers.

"A date outside of school on a school day? That doesn't sound like him." Wyatt wonders.

"Yeah, anyway so do you still want to go see this movie with me this weekend or no? Chris doesn't have to know, Wy." Dom says as he takes a bite out of his burger.

"I'll let you know." Wyatt answers with a smile, watching Dom eat like a savage.

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Darryl drags a cuffed Q into the SFPD by the collar and throws him onto the bench.

"You just don't learn your lesson, do you?" Darryl says angrily.

"Look, it wasn't at all what they said happened, alright?" Q tries to explain.

"You standing over that poor man with a knife pretty much says everything." Darryl says.

Henry barges into the station angrily and Darryl whistles out loud to grab his attention. Henry walks over to Darryl and Q.

"You called him?!" Q exclaims.

"Damn right he called me. You skipped school to go rob a bank?!" Henry screams.

"I didn't rob a bank, I wasn't trying to rob a bank. I just went for that blade." Q explains.

"What blade?" Henry asks.

Darryl takes out a clear evidence bag with the blade inside, "This one."

"Tell him what happened again." Darryl says with an amused tone, "You won't believe this."

"I don't know how I got to the Bank. I was walking to the school cafeteria and then next thing I knew, I was in the bank with the man who threw me against the wall with just waving his hand and I think the teller." Q says.

"Right." Henry laughs.

"I'm serious, Henry!" Q says trying to defend himself.

"What are you going to do with him?" Henry asks Darryl.

"I don't know."

"You should throw him in a cell until school lets out." Henry says.

"Right now, my wife should be walking through that door for lunch. I can't do that right now." Darryl says.

"We have to teach him a lesson." Henry says.

"I think so too but I won't be here to watch him and I'm not going to put one of my guys on him just to teach him a lesson." Darryl says.

While the two men argue, the man walks into the station and his eyes lock with Q's.

"Guys?" Q begins to panic as he watches the man approach him.

"GUYS!" Q screams, "The man is here."

"Where?" Darryl asks.

Q points them in the right direction.

One of the officers walks in front of the man.

"Excuse me, sir. You cannot just walk back here and...AAAAAHHHH!" the officer screams as he flies across the room.

Every officer including Darryl draws their weapons and aims it at the man. The man smiles as he looks around the station. He raises his arms and begins to conjure an orange smoke cloud.

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Melinda sits alone in a crowded cafeteria looking extremely defeated. She has a tray of French fries, corn and rice with a side of chocolate milk sitting in front of her as she plays around with her food. A hand grabs her shoulder gently and she jumps up in response and accidentally freezes the entire cafeteria.

"Wow, sis. I hate to see what you can do when you actually try to freeze." Chris laughs as he walks around and sits down across from her. Mellie looks around and waves her hands, unfreezing the cafeteria.

"Not who you were expecting?" Chris asks.

"I was expecting Tricia…"

"To run your campaign? How's that going?" Chris asks.

"It was going pretty well until I said something I shouldn't have. I think I hurt her feelings." Mellie says.

"You couldn't have hurt her that bad." Chris says as he reaches over and starts picking Mellie's French fries one by one.

"Maybe not but I still feel terrible about it." Mellie says, "She's helping me with something and I was insensitive."

"If you think you were out of line, just apologize to her and mend things between you two." Chris advises.

"Yeah, you're right. Maybe it's not too late." Mellie says.

"I know I'm right. Have I ever been wrong?" Chris asks.

Mellie chuckles at his comment.

"Thanks, Chris." Mellie smiles.

"No worries." Chris replies, "Can you get me some more fries because this is really good!"

Mellie shakes her head and stands up, "Just don't eat all of mine."

"I can't make any promises, sis." Chris says with his mouth stuffed with fries.

Mellie laughs quietly and walks away.

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Sheila Morris pulls into the parking lot of the SFPD. She hops out of her car and with a push of a button, she locks her car and the alarm sounds off to confirm this action. As she walks into the building, she hears a lot of commotion and groans from the inside. Hesitating to open the door, she presses her ear against the glass part of the door but that does not do her any favors. She opens the door and walks inside the station.

The air is polluted with orange smoke and numerous people are coughing excessively. Sheila takes her scarf and covers her nose and mouth as she tries to search for Darryl in the midst of the commotion.

"Darryl?!" she calls out but doesn't receive an answer. She sees Henry standing next to Q and she runs over to him.

"Henry?" she calls to him.

"Hey, Sheila." Henry says as he begins to cough.

"What's going on? Where's Darryl?" Sheila asks.

"He's right behind you." Henry points out. Sheila turns around and sees a bunch of elderly men standing behind her; coughing and moving extremely slow in the midst of the thick orange smog.

"Where? I don't see him?" Sheila asks.

"Sheila?" an old man calls for her with a weakly.

Sheila turns around and looks around once more. An African American man about the age of eighty walks closer to her.

"Honey?" the man says reaching for Sheila. Sheila backs away from him and turns to Henry.

"What's going on?" Sheila asks.

"I don't know." Henry says while in mid cough, "I don't feel so good."

Henry's face begins to change as his hair turns to white, his eyebrows grow fuller and a gray bread forms on his face. The wrinkles form on his face and spots appear on the side of his face and the back of his hands.

"Oh my God." Sheila exclaims.

"Call my wife or her sisters, quickly." Henry says with an aged and raspy voice.

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The door of the Manor slams shut.

"Piper?!" Phoebe calls from the foyer.

"Attic!" Piper answers.

"So what exactly is going on?" Piper asks as she paces back and forth with Paige, Billie and Laura sitting down in front of her.

"Abaddon placed a cloak on every demon in the underworld so no one from the side of good can see them, but I enchanted the glasses with the "Enchantment Spell" and that showed me what I needed to see." Laura explains.

"Why would Abaddon do that?" Piper asks.

"To keep them out of the line of fire. If there's no evil to fight, then there are no worries and that way, our guard would be let down." Paige explains, "He's onto something big and he needs his demon numbers to grow and not be decimated by witches vanquishing them."

"Do you know what his plan is?" Piper asks.

"He was able to track and find the Grimoire." Laura asks.

"The Grimoire? What's that?" Billie asks.

"The evil Book of Shadows." Piper answers.

"Are you sure that's what he found?" Paige asks.

"Yeah. That's the mission he sent Sebastian on after his sister was taken from him by you guys apparently." Laura explains.

"Sebastian? As in the Soothsayer?" Billie asks.

"The one and only." Laura answers.

"I thought we vanquished him." Paige says.

"Well, he's back. And with him tag teaming with Abaddon; they are going to use the Grimoire to find something. I just don't know what but whatever it is, it's not good." Laura says.

"Do you think Laylah has an idea of what it is?" Paige asks.

"It would be a big coincidence if she doesn't." Piper answers.

Phoebe walks into the attic.

"What's going on?" Piper asks.

"We have a problem. Sheila just called and she says it's an emergency. Our kind of emergency." Phoebe says.

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"What the hell is going on?" Q asks.

"I don't know but we should put them back into the break room before anyone else comes here and asks questions." Sheila says.

"Asks questions? We don't even know the answers." Q freaks out.

"Exactly so help me with them, please? I called Phoebe so she should be here soon." Sheila says as she leads the newly minted senior citizens to the back.

"Phoebe? Who's Phoebe?" Q asks.

"Someone who can help us fix this." Sheila says as she opens the door to the break room. One by one, the senior citizen officers file into the break room and Q guides the last one into the room and closes the door.

Sheila looks around and grabs the television remote and turns on the TV.

"Is my wife here yet?" Henry asks.

"No, Henry. She's on her way." Q answers.

"I want some jello. Young man, can I get some jello? I'm hankering for some jello." Old Darryl asks.

"I got you, Darryl. Give me a second." Q says.

A noise is heard on the outside of the room.

"What was that?" Sheila asks.

"I don't know but I'm going to check it out." Q says.

"What if it's whoever did this?" Sheila asks.

"Let's hope to God it's not." Q says as he grabs the handle of the door and opens it. He steps out of the room and runs into the Charmed Ones. Startled, they scream and Q screams as well.

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TO BE CONTINUED


	7. 10x05: Case of Phoebe Halliwell (2)

**10x05: The Curious Case of Phoebe Halliwell (Part 2)**

"Henry?" Paige says as she grabs Henry's hands and stares into his eyes for confirmation. Henry stares deeply into Paige's eyes and Paige smiles softly.

"Hey…" Henry says in a feeble voice.

"Hi." Paige whispers back.

"How the hell did this happen?" Piper asks as she looks around.

"I don't know. I came here to pick up Darryl for lunch and walked into this." Sheila says as she turns to Q, "He was here before I got here."

"Care to explain, Q?" Phoebe asks.

"This happened because of me." Q begins to explain.

" _You_ did this?" Paige asks angrily.

"No, but I think he was coming for me and Darryl and Henry were just in the way trying to protect me." Q says.

"Who's he?" Phoebe asks.

"I don't know who he is. But he's been following me for the past few weeks…" Q answers.

"We need to do something now because we cannot stay here." Phoebe says.

"What are we going to do? Bring twenty geriatric men into the Manor?" Piper asks.

"We just can't leave them unattended here." Phoebe answers.

"How are we going to get them there? I don't think Paige's powers can have her orb this many people to the Manor." Piper says.

"Well, I can take Henry's car." Paige suggests.

"I can take Darryl's truck and Phoebe can take my SUV." Sheila adds.

"Great. Q, you need to come with me to lead the way and guide these officers outside. Phoebe, make sure no one gets left behind." Piper instructs as she opens the door. She sticks her hand out and freezes the empty room outside.

"Ok, come on!" she waves as Q begins to walk outside with a few of the elderly officers. Paige grabs Henry's arm and locks it with hers. She looks at him and smiles sweetly.

"Where are we going?" Old Henry asks.

"Back to the Manor so we can turn you back." Paige answers.

"What would the world do without you?" Henry asks.

Paige leads him out of the door and smiles.

"Come on, keep it moving, people!" Piper shouts as they walk out of the room.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Wyatt walks out of the locker room decked out in his football gear. He walks onto the field and sees Mellie and Chris sitting on the bleachers waiting for him.

"Hey, guys." Wyatt waves as he walks closer to them, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Mellie wanted to watch you practice and go home with you. Just here to make sure that you will bring her back." Chris says as he stands up.

"Yeah, no problem. I got to talk to you though." Wyatt says.

"About what? If it has to do with Bianca…"

"Come on, here me out." Wyatt says as he walks up the bleachers and stands next to Chris.

"She has found a spot where we can meet up after school and train." Wyatt says.

"Train for what?" Chris asks.

"Training so we can better utilize our powers for when demons come crashing through the front door." Wyatt whispers as he tries to keep Mellie from hearing.

"Did you forget that we just had this argument with mom when we rescued Laylah?" Chris states, "Going behind mom's back doesn't do anything but cause problems."

"And asking her to help us develop our magic and fighting skills is doing nothing for us. We are not going to go demon hunting, Chris. We're just getting prepared in case we do."

Chris shakes his head and sighs.

"Look what happened yesterday. Mom and Auntie Paige and Phoebe lost their powers and it was up to us to use our powers to save the day. We were not prepared at all because they don't allow us to get a handle on our powers. What if it was someone more powerful than vampires? What would we have to do then, huh?" Wyatt asks.

"I just don't feel comfortable doing this without mom's approval, Wyatt. The answer is no. You can do this without me." Chris says as he walks down the bleachers. He turns around to face his brother, "What time will you guys be home just in case mom or dad asks?"

"Six."

"Right." Chris whispers "See you later, Mel."

Mellie waves at Chris and then looks at Wyatt.

"At least I got you in my corner, right?" Wyatt asks.

"Always." Mellie smiles.

"Good." Wyatt says as he kisses his sister on her forehead.

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Piper's Grand Jeep Cherokee pulls into the driveway of the Manor. Directly behind her are Darryl's Grey Toyota Tundra and Sheila's White Honda Pilot. Henry's Silver Infiniti pulls up and stops. The Charmed Ones and Sheila exit their cars and open the doors, gently leading the older gentlemen into the Manor.

The sorcerer stands across the street as he watches the sisters walk into the Manor. An orange cloud of smoke surrounds him as he disappears from sight.

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"Ok, I got you!" Piper says as she paces herself, walking one of the old officers into the manor, "Hold on to me. I got you. That's it."

Q closes the door behind her and runs next to Piper. Billie and Laura walk into the living room and see all the old man in police attire.

"What's going on?" Billie asks

"Can you hold take him to the conservatory over there?" Piper asks as she points to the sunroom.

"Sure." Q says, "I got you Officer Johnson. Come on."

Piper sighs deeply and Phoebe and Paige walk in next to them.

"Who are they?" Billie asks.

"A few members of the SFPD." Phoebe says in nonchalant tone, "No big deal."

"SFPD? What happened to them?" Laura asks.

"I don't know. But as soon as we do, you'll be the first to know." Paige says.

"Is Laylah still here?" Piper asks.

"She was in the attic last time I checked." Billie answers, "Why?"

"We're hoping she might have an idea of who we are up against." Piper answers.

"Billie, Laura, you guys stay down here and keep an eye on the grumpy old men over here. We sisters three? Attic." Phoebe says.

"Right…" Laura whispers as she looks at Billie, who sees the old men whistling at them.

"Ugh." Billie sighs.

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Phoebe marches up the stairs with her sisters right behind her, trying to keep up.

"How exactly is Laylah going to be able to help us with this?" Paige asks.

"She is the goddess of magic, right? She has to have an idea of what kind of magic can do this." Phoebe says as she runs up the stairs.

"Enough with the running!" Piper complains as she stops at the bottom of the stairs. Paige and Phoebe walk up the stairs leading to the attic and Piper finally catches her breath and follows suit.

The sisters enter the attic and find Laylah standing over the Book, flipping through the pages.

"I remember when your great-great-great grandmother fought this demon. He almost killed her and your great-great-great-grandfather ended up patching her up. He was a medic in the civil war." Laylah laughs.

Paige and Phoebe walk next to her and look down at the book, seeing what Laylah was referring to.

"I take it that you're still mad at me, Piper?" Laylah asks.

"You took away my best offensive power. Yeah, I'm still pissed." Piper says as she folds her arms.

"You were able to face and vanquish demons with your power before you had the power to blow things up. You'll be even more resourceful and powerful now that you're wiser and have a great handle on your power to freeze." Laylah says as she flips through the book.

"Laylah, do you know of a demon or warlock who has the power to make a person age rapidly?" Paige asks.

"And they're associated with an orange cloud." Phoebe adds.

"Orange cloud, you say?" Laylah asks.

Phoebe nods.

"Hmmm." Laylah ponders as she begins to flip through the Book telekinetically. She suddenly stops and points to the page, "He's the only one who comes to mind."

"Boake?" Phoebe reads his name of the page.

"Who's Boake?" Piper asks.

"A sorcerer tasked with the power to accelerate one's life force with a puff of smoke." Paige reads.

"Great." Piper groans, "Is there any known way to reverse his magic?"

"No. He's the only one who can reverse it." Laylah says.

"Wonderful!" Piper screams sarcastically.

"What do we do?" Paige asks, "We can't just leave Henry and Darryl like this."

"We'll find a way, Paige. I promise." Phoebe assures her sister.

"You have been around for hundreds of years, and you don't know how to take him down?" Piper asks angrily, glaring daggers at Laylah.

"You're not the first witches to encounter him, but you are the first to survive." Laylah says.

"We didn't really fight him. We just showed up for the aftermath." Paige responds.

"We know we're going to have to face him later on, we just need help to figure out what to do." Phoebe adds.

"The question is what exactly does he want? There must be a reason." Piper wonders.

"Well, I guess we have to ask Q about it since he's the one Boake was after." Phoebe says.

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Laura walks past the living room to see Billie watching television with the old officers. She smiles and walks over to an old Darryl and hands him a cup of jello.

"Here you go, Darryl." She says with a smile.

"Thank you, sweet thing." Darryl responds with a smile.

As Laura's blue eyes glisten in the light of the conservatory, Darryl's smile subsides and he scoots closer to Laura.

"Do I know you?" Darryl asks.

"I'm pretty sure you've seen me hanging around with the Halliwells a lot, that's probably why." Laura answers.

"No…" Darryl says, "I feel more like I know you from somewhere."

"I get that a lot." Laura smiles nervously.

"How long have you known the sisters?" Darryl asks.

"For a while…" Laura answers.

"Hmmm." Darryl hums with uncertainty in his voice, "Thank for the jello."

"No problem." Laura says.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige walk into the conservatory. Paige walks to Henry who is fast asleep on the couch.

"Hey, where's Sheila?" Phoebe asks.

"She had to go home to take care of the kids." Billie answers, "I told her I will keep her posted on any updates on Darryl."

"I see you have taken a liking to the cops over there." Phoebe jokes.

"They're growing on me. They're actually really sweet." Billie says.

"Q, we have a few questions to ask you about Boake." Piper begins.

"About who?" Q asks.

"Boake, the guy who did all of this." Piper replies.

"Oh, right…" Q chuckles nervously.

Piper points to the couch behind Q and they walk toward it. Phoebe sits on the table across from the couch as Piper and Q take a seat.

"Why is Boake after you?" Phoebe asks.

"I don't know. All I know is I thought he wasn't real because I only saw him in my dreams. Then those dreams turned out to be true, he would too."

"Wait, dreams? What kind of dreams?" Phoebe asks.

"First, I dreamt about walking into an old antique jewelry shop to find this key." Q says as he takes the key from around his neck and shows it to Piper and Phoebe, "He showed up then but he was just watching me. The next day on my way to school, I somehow ended up at the antique shop running out with this key in my hand, like I was in a trance or something. Then I had a dream about breaking into the bank and taking this blade, and he was there."

"What blade?" Piper asks.

Q takes a deep breath and reaches into his back pack. He takes out a cloth wrapped item and hands it to Piper. Piper unsheathes the blade and gasps.

"Phoebe?" Piper says in a low tone voice.

"The blade of Gambrel." Phoebe notes.

"This blade was in the bank?" Piper asks.

"Yeah. I don't know how but I saw it in my dream and then when I went to go take it, Boake showed up." Q explains.

"Dreams?" Piper says as she looks at Phoebe.

"Visions, maybe?" Phoebe guesses.

"But how and why?" Piper asks.

"Sounds to me like he was having an astral premonition? Like he would have a vision of the future and then his past self will then project himself into his present self to carry out what he saw in the premonition from before, if that makes sense." Phoebe explains.

"My head hurts but I think I got it." Piper replies.

"That's not the important part. The important part is why was Q led to the blade?" Phoebe asks.

"I don't know but I feel like if Q still has it, then Boake will not stop until he has it." Piper answers.

Chris walks into the Manor and sees Piper and Phoebe with their older guests.

"What's uh, what's going on?" Chris asks.

"Long story. Dealing with a sorcerer." Phoebe answers.

"Cool, do you guys need help? I can help." Chris offers as he takes off his back pack and walks further into the conservatory.

"No, no. You're too young to handle this." Piper answers.

"But mom…"

"No buts, where's your brother and sister?" Piper asks.

"Football practice and Mellie is playing his cheerleader." Chris answers, "But back to this, please? Let me do something. Research, potions, something."

"No!" Piper shouts adamantly, "Don't you have any homework to do?"

"Ugh…" Chris groans as he turns around and stomps his way upstairs.

An orange cloud begins to form behind Paige as she sits on the couch, with Henry's head on her lap, running her fingers through his hair gently.

"I think you should have let him join us." Phoebe advises.

"Like you would let your girls go demon hunting?" Piper asks to which Phoebe elicits no response, "I didn't think so."

"So what are we going to do about this Boake situation?" Phoebe asks.

"Nothing at all." Boake shouts.

Piper and Phoebe stand up quickly. Piper tries to thrust her hands forth but nothing happens.

"Damn it! I forgot she took away my exploding power!" Piper shouts angrily.

"I got it!" Billie says as she waves her hand and the telekinetic energy barely moves the sorcerer.

"I'm not here to fight, only here to negotiate." Boake smiles.

"We don't negotiate with demons." Piper spits at him.

"You'll find that you'll be willing to make an exception in this case." Boake says, "I just want my blade back."

" _Your_ blade? My husband helped forge this blade a few years ago." Phoebe replies.

"Well, the stones used to forge the blade were mine to protect until someone took them from my possession, so technically, it's mine."

"Well, finders keepers." Billie interjects.

"Really?" Piper looks at Billie with a look of disbelief at that comment.

"What?" Billie asks in self-defense.

"Turn these guys back to original packaging and then we will talk." Phoebe says.

"You know I can just come over there and take the blade myself." Boake says.

"I'll love to see you try, Boake." Piper says in a menacing tone.

"Oh, you did your research! I'm impressed." Boake bursts out in laughter, "I bet that little Book of Shadows of yours also has a spell in there to vanquish me, doesn't it?"

Piper and Phoebe stare at each other and then at Boake.

"Right, didn't think so. Quinton! Nice to see you again, my boy." Boake says in a sarcastic manner.

Q remains silent, just staring angrily at Boake.

"I'll ask you ladies again." Boake says as he steps around Paige and walks towards the sisters and Q, "Hand over the blade, and no one gets hurt. I just want what's mine."

"This blade has the power to vanquish you. If it was able to kill the Del Mar brothers, it will kill you too." Paige says, still holding on to Henry.

"Oh hush!" he says as he waves his hand at Paige and she falls unconscious alongside Henry.

"Paige!" Phoebe screams but Piper holds her back.

"Tsk tsk!" Boake says, "It's merely a sleeping spell but I can make it that much more permanent if you don't comply with my demands."

"Well, go ahead." Billie says.

"What? You really want to call my bluff?" Boake asks.

Billie nods.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Piper asks angrily.

"If he really wanted to kill us, he would've done so already. He's stalling." Billie whispers.

"How do you know that?" Piper asks.

"He said he was here to negotiate. If he wanted to kill us, he would have." Billie says.

"If you want the blade, come get it." Phoebe says.

"I can really snap your pretty little necks with a wave of my hand but the kill is not mine to savor. It belongs to another." Boake says.

"So then you have nothing of importance to hold in these negotiations." Piper says.

"Ok, let me make something abundantly clear." Boake says as he steps a little closer, "This aging curse I have placed on these fine _young_ gentlemen only lasts 24 hours, meaning come noon tomorrow, they will die of natural causes, so to speak. So they have a little bit less than 14 hours left, that is if I want to accelerate their deaths like so!"

Boake waves his hand and three of the officers sitting in the living room watching television turn into dust.

"No!" Billie yells.

"That's me being generous." Boake says, "Now, I'm asking one last time. The blade. Please."

Phoebe steps forward and clearly without hesitation utters the word, "No."

Boake takes a deep breath and exhales sharply.

"Very well." He says as he waves his hand and Piper, Phoebe, Billie, Laura and Q fly in different directions into the walls and doors. The blade slides across the floor.

Billie waves her hand at the blade and slides towards Q.

"Grab it and run!" Phoebe advises.

Q takes the blade and runs up the stairs. Piper waves her hand and freezes Boake. Boake begins to move rapidly as he fights through the freeze. Phoebe stands up and delivers a round kick across Boake's face and then kicks him in the chest, sending him flying into the grandfather's clock, smashing on impact. Billie takes out an athame from her boot and charges at Boake.

Boake stands up and marches towards Phoebe. He seizes Phoebe by the throat and raises her from the ground, with her legs dangling in midair. Phoebe struggles as she gasps desperately for air.

"Here's a little token of appreciation for making this quest a lot more complicated than it needed to be." Boake whispers to her. He leans in and kisses Phoebe on the lips, whose struggles and words of protest are muffled by the kiss. As Boake's lips pulls apart from Phoebe's, he exhales an orange vapor into Phoebe's mouth. Phoebe coughs as the vapor enters her body.

Billie stabs Boake in the back and causes Boake to drop Phoebe to the ground. Phoebe falls to her knees and begins to cough loudly while grabbing her neck.

Boake screams and punches Billie, sending her flying across the room and crashing into a table. Boake waves his hand and a cloud of smoke surrounds him as he disappears from sight.

Chris runs into the conservatory and sees the broken pieces of furniture, Phoebe, Paige and Piper on the ground, and three piles of dust across the hall on the couches.

"What the hell just happened?" he asks.

Piper stares at him and then at her sisters.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Paige rubs her head as she watches Piper pace back and forth in the attic.

"So he said what again?" she asks in confusion.

"We have less than twelve hours to save Henry and Darryl and the rest of the officers downstairs or else they all die." Phoebe says.

"So what do we do?" Paige asks.

"I don't know. I guess we have to give him what he wants in hopes of turning the guys back." Piper suggests.

"No, Piper. We can't do that." Phoebe objects.

"What other choice do we have, Phoebe?" Piper asks, "If we don't give him the blade, thirteen innocents including Darryl and Henry will die. If we do, we can save them and then figure out how to take the blade back from him."

"But if we give him the blade, the lives of millions of people may be at stake." Phoebe pleads, "Let's find another way."

"What other way is there, Phoebe? He just killed three out of sixteen guys just because he can. I'm not going to sit here and allow him to kill thirteen more." Piper shoots back.

"Giving him the blade only delays the inevitable." Phoebe says.

"If it is inevitable, then we're going to have to deal with it no matter what we do anyway." Piper says.

"Paige?" Phoebe turns to her younger sister for support.

"I really hear you, Phoebe. I really do but I'm with Piper on this one. We save the innocents we have now by giving Boake the blade, and then we'll worry about the innocents we _might_ have to save later on." Paige says.

Phoebe realizing that she has lost the battle finally concedes.

"Ok. So what do we do?" Phoebe asks.

"You can write a summoning spell to bring him to us and then make the deal." Piper says.

"He might not be in a negotiation mood after stabbing him the back." Billie says.

"He doesn't have a choice." Piper says as she grabs a pen and paper and hands it to Phoebe, "And neither do we."

"I don't need to write it. I can recite one right now if we're ready." Phoebe says.

Piper nods her understanding and Paige gives Phoebe a warm smile. Phoebe stands between her two sisters and takes a deep breath.

" _Search the skies through time and space  
Hear we three witches' call.  
We summon thee, to show your face  
Reveal yourself to all."_

A gust of orange wind materializes in the center of the attic. Boake appears in the middle of the attic and the gust of wind disappears.

"You really have a death wish, don't you?" Boake mutters.

"We didn't summon you to fight. We summoned you to take you up on your deal." Piper says.

"Is that so?" Boake asks.

"Yeah. Can we get this over with?" Phoebe says quickly.

"The blade?" Boake asks as he stretches his arm forward.

"Nope. Reverse your magic first." Paige says.

"You desperately want me to save your dear old husband, you will hand me the blade." Boake says with a smile.

"We can do this all day, just reverse the damn spell and then we'll give you the blade." Piper says angrily.

Boake scans the faces of the witches in the room and then sighs. He closes his eyes as an orange cloud emits from his palm and enters the ceiling. He takes a deep breath and then claps, as the cloud fills the air and then suddenly.

"Done."

"Paige." Piper says without taking her eyes off Boake.

Paige orbs out of the attic.

"You don't believe me? I'm a man of my word." Boake laughs.

"Yeah well. I won't take my chances." Phoebe says.

"What's the deal with the boy? Q?" Piper asks.

"His power allows him to see things through other people's eyes instead of his own. Then I used a spell to advance his powers temporarily to project his past self into his present self and go to the places to retrieve the things I needed before the owners of the items went to retrieve the items themselves." Boake explains.

"And what's the deal with the blade? Why do you need it?" Phoebe asks.

"That's for me to know and you to find out, and believe me, you will find out. Eventually." Boake smiles.

Paige orbs back into the attic with tears in her eyes. She looks at her sisters with a smile and nods happily.

Phoebe takes a deep breath and walks forward with the blade. She takes it out of the cloth and walks closer to Boake. She hands the blade to Boake, who examines the blade and the smile on his face grows.

"This is real? You're not handing me a fake, are you?" he asks.

"We're the good guys, we don't break our promises." Phoebe reassures him.

The blade glows an emerald green for a quick second and fades.

"I'll be seeing you real soon, Phoebe." Boake says with a smile as he poofs out of sight.

Phoebe takes a deep breath and runs downstairs, with her sisters following her. Moments later, they run into the conservatory and see all the officers, returned to their proper age.

Darryl looks around and then looks at Phoebe.

"Phoebe, what happened?" he asks.

"You don't want to know." Phoebe answers with a smile.

Henry walks downstairs with his arm around Paige.

"What did I miss?" he asks.

"A whole lot but I'll fill you in later." Paige says as she kisses her husband.

Phoebe sits on the couch and watches them with a smile on her face.

"Any idea on how they're all getting home?" Piper asks as she shepherds the officers out of her house.

"I mean they can use Uber or something, right?" Billie answers.

"What the hell is Uber?" Phoebe asks.

"Are you serious?" Billie asks.

"They must not have Uber in Europe." Paige jokes.

Piper shuts the door and joins the group in the conservatory.

"Thanks for everything. I don't know what happened but I feel like I need to get home before my wife trips." Darryl says.

"She's going to be more relieved than tripping." Paige says.

"I'll see you guys soon." Darryl says as he walks out.

"What about him?" Phoebe asks, pointing to Q.

"You…" Henry says as his tone shifts to an angry one.

"In his defense, he did help take care of you when you were old and all." Paige defends.

"Yeah, you might want to take it easy on me." Q laughs nervously, "Or maybe take me off the hook?"

"Not even close." Henry snarls and then looks at Paige. "What time are you going to be home?"

"Later on. The kids are with Coop right now. I just got to make sure things are wrapped up around here first." Paige answers.

"I'll see you later then?" Henry says as he kisses Paige. He walks towards the front door and points at Q, "Let me take you home."

"Ok." Q says as he waves at the sisters and then walks out the front door.

Paige walks to the couch and sits next to Phoebe.

"What a day, huh?!" Paige sighs.

"Tell me about it." Piper adds.

"Well, I think I'm going to crash. I'll see you guys later." Phoebe says as she stands up and heads towards the bannister.

"Um, Phoebe? Where are you going?" Piper asks.

"To my room?" Phoebe answers.

"You don't live here anymore, remember?" Piper reminds her, "But you're welcome to sleep over if you like. You just have to give me a couple of minutes to clean up Mellie's room."

"Who's Mellie?" Phoebe asks.

Paige, Piper and Billie begin to laugh uncontrollably.

"Don't be silly." Piper says as she stands up and walks past Phoebe, "She's my daughter."

Paige and Billie walk by Phoebe and walk up the stairs.

"Piper has a daughter?" Phoebe mumbles to herself.

Billie stops next to Phoebe.

"Are you okay, Phoebe?" Billie asks.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Phoebe answers with a smile. Billie nods at her and then walks away. Phoebe watches Billie walking away and her mind begins to ponder.

"Who the hell was that?" Phoebe asks herself, "Maybe she's one of Paige's new charges or something."

Phoebe puts the thought of Billie in the back of her mind and shrugs with no concerns in mind. She turns around and walks up the stairs to retire for the night.

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With the sun shining rising slowly over the horizon, the sunlight stretches across the sky and leaves a streak of colorful designs painted in the morning sky. As the sun hovers over the Manor, the occupants of the Halliwell manor sit around at the dining room table enjoying their breakfast.

"What time did you come home last night?" Leo asks Wyatt.

"A little bit after 8." Wyatt answers.

"On a school night?" Piper asks.

"Mom, I'm in high school. My curfew isn't until 10 anyway." Wyatt answers.

"I'm not mad about that. You had your little sister with you and you stayed out till that late?" Piper yells.

"In all honesty, it's not that late." Leo defends.

"Thank you, dad." Wyatt says his gratitude showing in his smile.

"No, it is when his 10 year old sister is with him." Piper says as she pours orange juice into Wyatt's cup, "Don't let it happen again."

"It won't mom." Wyatt promises.

"Good morning, Halliwells!" Coop screams as he walks into the Halliwell Manor with his children running into the house.

"Hey, Coop." Leo says.

"Hey, Coop." Piper says as Coop gives her a kiss on the cheek.

"Did Phoebe stay here last night?" Coop asks.

"Yeah, she was too tired to drive so she stayed in." Piper answers.

"She could've summoned me and I would have beamed her home." Coop says.

"Well, you'll have to talk to her about that." Piper says.

Tricia walks past Mellie and sits across from her at the table.

"Hey, Tricia." Mellie says quietly but Tricia doesn't pay her any mind.

Mellie looks at Chris who is sitting right next to Tricia. Chris silently mouths the words, "Keep trying."

"Can I talk to you for a second, Trish?" Mellie asks.

"I'm not in a chatting mood right now, Mel. I am not supposed to talk to strangers." Tricia answers.

Mellie stares at Tricia as tears form in her eyes. She clears her throat and looks at Chris. Chris looks at both girls, speechless.

"Is Phoebe up?" Coop asks.

"She should be. She has been hogging the bathroom for the last half an hour." Piper says.

"What did you say about me?" Phoebe's voice can be heard saying in the distance as she walks down the stairs.

"Nothing bad, just that you've been hogging the bathroom for…" Piper begins to say but then she pauses at the sight of Phoebe.

"Oh my God." Piper says as she begins to laugh.

"Oh my God." Coop and Leo say in unison.

"What is it? Why are you guys staring at me like that?" Phoebe asks.

"Have you stared at yourself in the mirror this morning?" Leo asks.

"She must have, staying in that bathroom for that long." Piper responds.

"What?" Phoebe asks once more.

Piper walks to Phoebe and practically drags her in front of the mirror in the foyer.

Phoebe's previously short pixie hair cut was no longer the hairstyle she wore. Her hair was long and brown with blonde highlights, reminiscent of the hairstyle she often wore during the era when she first met Cole Turner.

"I don't get it. I don't know what you're talking about." Phoebe says.

"Your hair, your face, your everything?" Piper says.

"Whatever, Piper. I'm starving." Phoebe says as she walks past her husband and sits between Tricia and Chris.

"Is she going through a mid-life crisis?" Coop asks Leo.

"I don't know." Leo mumbles back.

"Honey?" Coop walks towards Phoebe cautiously, "Are you okay?"

"Honey?" Phoebe asks as her eyes fall on Piper and Leo, "Why is this man calling me honey?"

"Phoebe, this is your husband, Coop." Piper explains, "And these are your children, Patricia, Paisley and Paris."

Phoebe stares around the table and laughs out loud uncontrollably. The whole table stare at her in confusion.

"Children? Piper, you were always lousy at pulling pranks when we were kids but I have got to admit, you actually almost got me." Phoebe says as she takes a bite out of her bagel. She looks at Paris and Tricia, "They almost kind of look like me."

"That's because they're your children, Aunt Phoebe." Chris answers.

"Aunt Phoebe?" Phoebe asks, "Whose kid are you?"

"That's my son; your nephew, Chris." Piper answers.

"Ok, this is not funny anymore, Piper." Phoebe says as she stands up.

"Ok, Halliwell spawn! Uncle Henry is outside and ready to take you guys to school." Paige shouts as she bursts into the Manor.

"Paige. Thank God." Phoebe says as she rushes to Paige and hugs her.

"Um, hey Phoebe." Paige smiles.

"What happened to your hair? Did a demon cut your hair? Or was it a potion?" Phoebe asks.

"Um no. I cut it myself." Paige answers with hesitation. She looks at the rest of the audience and then back at Phoebe, "Phoebe, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am. I'm not sure if you guys are though." Phoebe says.

Phoebe leans closer to Paige and then stares at the rest of the people in the dining room.

"Oh honey…" Phoebe says sadly and whispers, "No offense and all but you and Piper and even Leo…you are looking a little bit old."

"Phoebe…" Piper calls out to her sister.

"Hmmm?"

"What year are we in right now?" Piper asks.

"2002." Phoebe answers.

"Oh my God." Paige gasps.

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	8. 10x05: Case of Phoebe Halliwell (3)

**10x05: The Curious Case of Phoebe Halliwell (Part 3)**

"2017?!" Phoebe shouts as she begins to panic.

"Phoebe, you need to calm down." Piper says calmly.

"Calm? I apparently have three children with a man I do not know fifteen years into the future. I don't know how exactly how calm I'm expected to be. Where's Cole?" Phoebe asks.

"Um, Cole's dead." Paige gently breaks the news to her.

"Dead? How? Why?" Phoebe asks.

"Wyatt, Chris, take your cousins outside. Your uncle Henry is waiting for you guys outside." Piper instructs, "I don't want you guys to be late for school."

"But mom…" Chris begins to protest but Leo backs Piper up.

"You heard your mother." Leo says.

"Great." Chris grunts as he grabs his backpack and walks outside with Wyatt and the rest of the girls.

"Phoebe. Phoebe. Listen to me. Cole became the Source of all evil and made you his queen. We ended up vanquishing him and he came back to win you back and turn you evil again and you vanquished him once and for all." Piper explains.

" _I_ vanquished Cole?" Phoebe asks.

"Yes, honey. You did." Paige says in a soothing tone.

"Oh my God." Phoebe says, "I don't remember casting a spell to come to the future. This is crazy."

"Phoebe, you are not in the future. You're in the present. You just don't remember your present for some reason." Piper says.

"You know what? Look through this album of pictures. Maybe it will jog your memory?" Coop suggests as he slides a photo album towards Phoebe.

"Sure." Phoebe says as she walks towards the living room with Coop.

Piper and Paige regroup with Leo.

"Ok, what the hell is going on?" Paige asks.

"Either she's from the past or she's losing her memory." Leo says.

"Losing her memory?" Piper asks.

"The sorcerer you guys dealt with yesterday had the power to age his victims. The book never specified that he could age them to be older or younger so it's entirely possible that she can only remember events in her life up until 2002. Anything after that hasn't happened yet as far as she's concerned." Leo explains.

"That's great, so basically Boake tricked us into giving him the blade and cursed Phoebe." Paige says.

"So what do we do now?" Piper asks.

"Try to track down Boake to reverse the spell, just pray it doesn't get worse than that." Leo says.

"How much worse can it get?" Piper asks.

Phoebe walks towards Piper, Paige and Leo.

"I'm late for school, Piper. Can you give me a ride to campus?" Phoebe asks.

"Um, Phoebe, you're no longer in school." Paige answers.

Phoebe looks at Paige suspiciously and then looks at Piper.

"Hi, I'm Phoebe. And you are?" Phoebe introduces herself as she extends her arm for a handshake.

"You don't remember who I am?" Paige asks.

"I'm sorry. No, I don't." Phoebe says innocently, "You do look familiar though. Have we met before?"

Piper looks at Leo who has an "I-told-you-so" look on his face.

"Don't even say it, Leo! Don't even say it." Piper says as she rolls her eyes.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Mellie and her cousins step out of the car and wave at Henry. Wyatt and Chris get out of the car as well. Chris looks at Mellie and nudges her softly.

"Keep trying." Chris whispers to her.

"What if she doesn't want to hear it?" Mellie asks.

"Then you can at least say that you tried." Chris says.

"Ok, Chris." Mellie says with a smile.

"See you for lunch?" Chris asks.

"Lunch." Mellie replies as she kisses her brother on the cheek and walks away with her cousins.

Chris joins Wyatt as they head towards the high school.

"So…" Wyatt begins, "Strange morning, huh?"

"Yeah…" Chris says in a monotone voice.

"You think Aunt Phoebe's going to be ok?" Wyatt asks.

"Yeah, mom and Auntie Paige got this as always." Chris replies.

"And that doesn't bother you?" Wyatt asks.

"Why should it?"

"We are perfectly capable of handling demons and help save the day but we will always be babies in their eyes." Wyatt says.

"Well I can't do anything about it." Chris says.

"Yes, you can!" Wyatt says as he stops Chris, "We can! We have the opportunity to hone our skills without the restriction of our parents and you're passing this up?"

"Without the restriction of our parents?" Chris repeats, "That sentence alone should worry you."

"Stop being so neurotic, Chris!"

"Wyatt, this is a dangerous thing you're asking me to do." Chris says.

"Why are you so against this? What's holding you back?" Wyatt asks.

"What's holding me back?!" Chris asks as his anger reaches his peak, "The first time we went out demon hunting, you came back unconscious and Aunt Paige had to save you. We mapped out our entire plan to save Laylah and for what? We almost lost you. I'm not going to put myself in a situation where I will be responsible for the death of someone else. Not on my watch."

"That's more of a reason for us to do this, Chris. The more we practice, the more we will have the chance to react and think on our feet when stuff like that happens. If we don't fail, we will never rise to try again and succeed." Wyatt argues.

"I don't know…" Chris says.

"Come on, Chris!"

"You are the twice blessed child! Supposedly the most powerful witch of all time. You don't need me, Wyatt." Chris says.

"Please. I can do this without you, Chris. You know I can. I just don't want to. I want my brother by my side." Wyatt says, "It is so cool to see mom and her sisters stand side by side and fight demons together and chant spells and vanquish demons together. That's what makes them stronger. I want us to be that way. Train so that when Mellie is ready, we can train with her and become as powerful as mom and our aunts."

"I'll think about it." Chris mumbles softly.

Wyatt looks at Chris with hesitation.

"I'll really think about it. I promise!" Chris emphasizes.

"Ok." Wyatt smiles, "Come on, we're going to be late for homeroom."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Mellie walks up to Tricia in the middle of the hallway. Tricia puts her books away in her locker and slams the locker shut to see her cousin standing there, waiting.

"Hey Tricia..." Mellie says softly.

Tricia stares at her cousin angrily and walks right by her.

"Tricia, come on!" Mellie pleads desperately as she runs after her, "Can you please hear me out?"

Tricia stops in her tracks and turns around. She takes a deep breath and exhales sharply.

"You've got thirty seconds."

"Seriously? This is how you're going to play it?" Mellie asks in disbelief.

"Twenty four seconds…" Tricia says as she looks at her watch.

"Look, I know I was a bit insensitive yesterday. I didn't mean it the way it sounded. It just came out wrong." Mellie tries to explain, "I'm sorry."

"Ok, cool." Tricia says as she turns around and walks away.

"So that's it? You're just going to leave me hanging like this?" Mellie asks.

Tricia stops once more and turns around to face Mellie. She walks closer to her and stares at Mellie for a moment without saying a word.

"Say something, Trish. You're freaking me out." Mellie says.

"I tried to help you with this stupid election and you shut me down." Tricia begins, "I know you didn't mean it but it took your brother to talk you into apologizing before you actually made the effort to do so…"

"How did you know that?" Mellie asks.

"Magic, we've all got it." Tricia responds.

"Well, I was already trying to apologize but you weren't trying to hear it." Mellie defends herself, "I think you're just over reacting."

"Over reacting?" Tricia asks in an angry lowered voice, "You think I'm over reacting?"

"No, that came out wrong…"

"You seem to be doing a lot of that lately, speaking without thinking." Tricia says, "Truth is, I wasn't even that angry about what you said. I was hurt, yes but I figured you were stressed and said things you didn't mean. But then you somehow made this _'apology'_ about you instead of actually being genuine about it and that is what got me angry. You're not apologizing because you're sorry. You're apologizing because you don't want me mad at you. You can't run this campaign without me so you need me back. That in itself is selfish."

"But that's not entirely true. I'm not selfish." Mellie says.

"Really?" Tricia asks as she takes one step closer to Mellie, "Do you know how it felt like when my mother stared into my eyes and didn't know who I was? Looked at me and my sisters and didn't even recognize them? I spent the whole morning trying to convince Paris and Paisley that our mother had a temporary setback from last night's demon fight and trying to tell them she will be fine when I don't know if she will be or not. That was what I spent my morning doing.

A feeling of guilt washes over Mellie as she watches the tears form in Tricia's eyes.

"I am not stressing about your angry spat at me anymore; I'm worrying about if I will have my mother back." Tricia says as her voice breaks, "I have to get class. I'm going to be late."

Tricia turns and walks away, leaving Mellie watching her walking away. Mellie inhales quickly and wipes her tears.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Boake sits in the catacombs of the underworld, wincing in pain as a demonic healer presses a salve upon the wound in his back.

"Can't you heal that magically?" Boake asks as the pain grows.

"Only good magic can heal wounds completely; and even with that they have some complications sometimes. I have to clean out your wound before I use the potion to seal and heal your wound." The healer explains.

"Well, hurry up!" Boake groans impatiently, "I suspect the spell I used on the witches has begun and the Charmed Ones will try to summon me any moment."

"The Charmed Ones?" the healer asks in surprise, "They did this to you?"

"I faced them and one of the witches they are acquainted with stabbed me." Boake explains.

"You're lucky they didn't send you to the wasteland." The healer says as he applies more salve onto the wound.

"They don't know how to vanquish me." Boake boasts, "If they did, they would've already."

"It's only a matter of time until they do." The healer says, "There was no known vanquish for the Source but they managed to vanquish him. No vanquishing spell for Zankou, but they defeated him. Then the Del Mar brothers…"

"They are not in a position to vanquish me. If they do, their sister dies." Boake says softly as he twitches as the healer performs his magic on his wound. The black paste begins to glow and disappears, leaving no scars or traces of a wound.

"You are all set." The healer says as he walks to his table covered with bottles of ingredients. He begins to concoct a potion on the whim, throwing and mixing ingredients together until a small explosion is heard, releasing a small red cloud of smoke. He pours a dark green liquid into a vial and walks to Boake.

"Drink this potion when the color changes to red. It should protect you from being summoned by them."

" _Should_?" Boake asks.

"If I had a blood sample of the witches from which you needed protection, it would have been a guarantee. This is a 50 percent chance of a success rate."

Boake looks at the vial and then at the healer.

"Do not underestimate the Charmed Ones." The healer warns Boake as he shimmers out of the underworld. Boake stares at the vial once more, examining the potion.

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Piper, Paige and Leo approach Phoebe and Coop in the living room. Phoebe looks through the photo albums quietly with Coop sitting next to her.

"Phoebe? Are you okay?" Piper asks.

"Prue's dead?" Phoebe asks with tears in her eyes.

"Yeah." Piper says as she sits next to Phoebe, trying to comfort her.

"And this is our younger sister?" Phoebe asks pointing to Paige, to which Piper nods with a pained smile.

"And we all have children? All three of us?" Phoebe asks.

"Yep." Paige answers, "You have three beautiful girls."

Phoebe chuckles tearfully, "What are their names again?"

Coop flips the photo album to a page of their family. Pointing to each child, he reintroduces his children to his wife.

"This one is Paisley. That's your baby. She's as strong willed and funny like her mom." Coop smiles.

"Paisley?" Phoebe asks with a tearful smile.

"Yeah." Coop whispers his answer in return.

"And the one in the middle, that's Paris. She's kind hearted and sweet and charming…like you." Coop says.

Phoebe's fingers drag across the faces of her daughters in the picture.

"And the oldest one, Patricia. She's very smart, ambitious, sassy and very headstrong." Coop says, "You'd be proud of her."

"Patricia?" Phoebe says, "Like after mom?"

"Mhm." Paige nods.

"What is happening to me?" Phoebe asks.

"We don't know but we're going to fix it, ok?" Piper says, "Don't worry."

"We won't let anything happen to you." Paige adds.

"Paige, right?" Phoebe asks, looking at Paige trying to recognize her.

"Yeah. That's me." Paige replies with a smile as tears fall from her eyes.

"Paige. Piper, Leo, Coop, Tricia, Paris and Paisley." Phoebe repeats.

"Good. Now keep repeating those names so you'll never forget, ok?" Leo advises and Phoebe nods.

"Paige, Piper, Leo, Coop. Tricia, Paris, Paisley." Phoebe begins to recite.

Piper walks to the side and the rest of the crew follow suit.

"Now what?" Paige asks as she wipes away her tears.

"Billie stabbed Boake with the athame so hopefully we can use his blood to scry for him. Paige, you stay here with Phoebe and keep an eye on her." Piper instructs.

"By myself?" Paige asks, "She barely remembers me."

"You've got Coop and Leo here to help you." Piper says.

"I got to head to the bank to do the monthly stats and deposits." Leo says.

"Ok, you have Coop." Piper says, "If it makes you feel better, call Laura to help you."

"But my powers! I don't know how to control them." Paige complains.

"There's nothing like field practice to learn how to control your powers." Piper says as she puts on her jacket and opens the door, "Keep your phone on. I'll be calling for updates on Phoebe."

"Where are you going, Piper?" Phoebe asks as she stands up and walks toward her sisters.

"We're going to find the demon that did this to you and have him reverse it." Piper answers.

"How?" Phoebe asks.

"Negotiate with him like we did before…" Piper replies.

"That's not a good idea, Piper." Phoebe warns.

"Why do you say that?" Piper asks.

"Did you find out his info in the Book of Shadows?"

"Of course I did, it wasn't enough to go on and there's no known vanquish in the book." Piper answers.

"Remember when we did the same thing with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and we almost lost Prue? Do you want that to happen again?" Phoebe asks.

"Of course not but we're obviously on a time limit and with every minute that goes by, you grow younger and lose your memory." Piper says.

"That shouldn't stop you, Piper. We have faced worse and came out on top. We're the Charmed Ones. We do things on our terms, not on anyone else's." Phoebe says.

"Fine." Piper concedes, "What do you recommend we do?"

"We read his info in the Book again. I'm willing to bet that there's something in there we're missing. I'll take book duty and figure something out. You scry for him and don't attack him until we are sure we can take him out." Phoebe says as she walks past Piper and Paige and runs up the stairs.

"Hmm." Paige smiles, "Well, what are we waiting for?"

"I'll try to see if I can track Boake as well." Coop says.

"Wait, can you?" Piper asks.

"Yeah, even evil can love. It may not be love for another human being but it can be love of destruction, love of death and pain but it's enough to sense and try to track him." Coop says. He walks to Phoebe, kisses her on the forehead and she flinches.

"I'll be right back, ok?" Coop says.

Phoebe nods and watches Coop disappear in a beam of pink light.

Piper groans and takes out her cell phone.

"What are you doing?" Leo asks.

"Calling Billie and Laura. If we can't go out looking, we can bring them here to help us keep an eye on him." Piper says.

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Mellie walks into her classroom and sits down in a chair in the back. Her mind is distracted due to the conversation she had earlier with Tricia. The chatter in the classroom did nothing to draw her attention until she heard a familiar voice on the school announcing PA.

"Let us all rise as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance." The voice says.

Every single one of the fifth graders rose to their feet, placed their right hand over their hearts and began to recite the pledge of allegiance in unison. After the pledge was recited, the students sat down and then the voice said,

"This is Patricia Halliwell, and I don't like to run very often but when I do, it's for class president. My campaign ad for class president will air on channel 3 before lunch. Stay tuned!" Tricia announces.

Mellie gasps and folds her arms angrily. She stands up from her desk and runs out of the class.

"Melinda, where are you going?!" the teacher calls out after her, eliciting no response.

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Phoebe sits in the attic with the Book of Shadows on her lap. Her hair was no longer resting on her chest with blonde highlights. It was now a dark brown color; shorter, framing her face and hovering above her shoulders reminiscent of the style in the latter half of season 1. She makes her notes on her notepad while she continues to flip back and forth between the pages of the Book. Laura sits next to Phoebe and they quietly discuss and compare notes on the same subject.

Billie watches Phoebe and then walks over to Piper and Paige.

"So what exactly is happening again because I don't really get it?" Billie asks.

"Phoebe doesn't remember who you are. She thinks she is 23 years old right now in 1998 where the Charmed Ones were Prue, Phoebe and I." Piper explains.

"She doesn't remember Paige?" Billie asks.

"Not really." Paige answers.

"So what are we doing about this?" Billie asks, "Why don't we find Boake and vanquish him or force him to reverse this or whatever?"

"Because the book doesn't have a vanquishing spell and last time we negotiated with him, he cursed Phoebe and took the blade." Piper says.

"So we're sitting ducks with no weapon in our arsenal?" Billie asks.

"Yep." Paige answers sarcastically.

"How's the scrying coming along?" Piper asks Billie.

"Still searching but I'm positive we'll come up with something." Billie says looking at her phone.

"What about you, Phoebe? What's the status on your end?" Piper asks.

"Still haven't managed to crack this sorcerer but I'm piecing together information from his M.O. and other sorcerers and hope to create a vanquishing spell or potion from it." Phoebe says.

"How do you know it will work?" Paige asks.

"I don't. But that's what made us who we were in the first place; studying the book and using the knowledge from the ancestors before us to better serve us now." Phoebe explains, "It's better than having nothing at all."

"Right." Billie smiles.

"Who is she again?" Phoebe asks, whispering to Piper.

"Don't mind her." Piper says, dismissively. "Do you think we're going to need a spell?"

"I do. Studying his characteristics, he has similar abilities to the Devil's Sorcerer."

"The who?" Piper asks.

"Tempus." Phoebe smiles.

"We didn't really vanquish him though. We just weakened him when we took him on." Piper explains.

"Exactly. Boake may not have the power to manipulate time but his power manipulates an individual's own personal biological clock, accelerating and decelerating their aging process so we can tweak the spell from Tempus to weaken Boake as well, and with a power of three potion, we can vanquish him." Phoebe explains.

"I'm impressed." Billie says in awe.

"Thank you." Phoebe answers.

"Any idea what the potion entails?" Paige asks.

"That's Piper's area of expertise." Phoebe says as she walks towards the book. She picks it up and walks to Piper, "This is your moment to shine."

"No. You've already figured out the majority of this. You can finish it." Piper says.

"No, Piper." Phoebe says calmly, "We are the Charmed Ones, each possessing our own gift to combat these evil beings. You are the potion master, I am the spell writer and Prue was the mastermind the pieced the plan together. You've got this."

Piper takes a deep breath and grabs the book from Phoebe. She walks to the podium and places it on the open stand. She looks up at Phoebe, who gives her an encouraging head nod. Piper begins to flip through the Book and starts writing down the ingredients.

"I'm glad to see that you've come into your own, Piper." Phoebe says with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Piper asks.

"When we first embarked on this journey as witches, you were a nervous wreck. You didn't want anything to do with being a witch. In fact, you specifically told me you hated being a witch, remember?" Phoebe reminisces, "You even were scared that you being a witch made you evil and couldn't step foot in a church."

"What?" Paige laughs along with Billie.

"Lies!" Piper screams.

Phoebe laughs and clears her throat. "I'm just happy that you're more confident in yourself and in your powers now."

"I'm not more confident in my powers. I just got my powers stripped and I'm basically starting from scratch. Everything I have worked hard for in the past two decades has been for nothing." Piper rants, "If you remembered, you'd be feeling the same way."

"No, honey." Phoebe says as she walks closer to Piper, "The first problem I noticed is that the whole sentence you just said was about you, even though I'm pretty sure we all got our powers taken away."

"What are you saying?" Piper asks.

"This Charmed thing is a sister thing. What happens to one happens to all three of us and we have to acknowledge that at all times. That's what makes us stronger." Phoebe explains, "Secondly, I have reason to believe that if it was taken from us, there must be a reason for it. Everything happens for a reason."

"This reason doesn't make sense." Piper says.

"It may or may not make sense, but like with everything, we will get through it together. We figured this Charmed thing out together, didn't we? I'm willing to bet that with 20 years under our belt, it won't be like the first time." Phoebe smiles.

"I don't remember you being this wise when we were younger." Piper says jokingly.

"Well, all my knowledge and wisdom was hidden under my stubborn and hard headed exterior created by the fact that I was the youngest sister." Phoebe laughs. She sees Paige standing alone quietly in the corner.

"What is bothering you?" Phoebe asks her.

"Nothing." Paige mutters.

"Talk to me. We're supposed to be sisters, right?" Phoebe asks.

"I always somehow felt like I missed out on growing up with my sisters and memories with Prue. Then ten years ago, I got to have an idea of what it would be like if I did. It never took away the fact that I always walked in Prue's shadow. Now, that my powers have basically been remodeled, I feel like I have to catch up to what Prue accomplished with her magic." Paige explains.

Phoebe looks towards Paige and walks to her.

"You are not Prue." Phoebe says bluntly, to which Paige flinches and looks down sadly, "You shouldn't try to be Prue. Do you think you're the only one who lived in her shadow? Try going 17 years listening to Grams using Prue to set the bar for the rest of us." Phoebe says with a chuckle, "I'm going to tell you what Prue told me in high school. She told me that she did what she does because it's who she is. She's a perfectionist and she doesn't expect us to follow footsteps. We're sisters, but we are our own person. Prue wanted to be a photographer, and Piper a chef. I don't know what I want to be but I definitely didn't want to be cooking or taking pictures."

Paige laughs and Phoebe laughs with her.

"Your powers are the same as Prue's because you're the third sister. That's what the prophecy says. Besides, you have a leg up on Prue because it took a while for her to be able to channel her power through her hands. She started with her eyes. You're already ahead of her. Do what you have to do for you. Don't try to be better than Prue. Be better than you."

Paige nods as tears streak down her porcelain face. She leans in for a hug and Phoebe embraces her tightly.

"This is so beautiful; I think I need a moment." Laura sniffles.

"Ok, back to work." Piper says, breaking up the sentiment moment. She rips out a page from her notebook and hands it to Billie, "These are the ingredients for the spell. Go to herb store in Chinatown and then the new age store to get the last three ingredients. I will get the potion started so by the time you come back, we can finish up quickly."

Billie nods and takes the list from Piper. She hands her phone to Laura.

"Keep an eye on the scrying app. Let the sisters know if you find him." Billie says.

Laura wipes her tears and nods. Billie flashes one more glance to the sisters and then walks out of the attic.

"Do you mind helping me with the potion?" Piper asks Phoebe.

"No I won't mind at all." Phoebe answers with a smile.

"Paige, you and Laura scry for Boake. We'll be downstairs." Piper says.

"But I'm already scrying with Billie's app." Laura says.

"Technology is great, but old fashioned is also key. Paige, you scry with the athame. Maybe we'll get a hit faster with that crystal instead." Piper says as she walks out of the attic with Phoebe.

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Chris walks into the cafeteria of Dwight Eisenhower Elementary School. His eyes scan the cafeteria in search of his sister but she is nowhere to be found. A wave of worry fills his mind as he begins to conceive random thoughts of where Mellie could be. He turns around and runs out of the cafeteria.

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Wyatt sits in the cafeteria of his high school eating with Dom. Bianca approaches Wyatt and sits down next to Dom.

"So what's the word?" Bianca asks Wyatt.

"Good afternoon to you too, Bianca." Dom says as he stuffs a mozzarella stick in his mouth.

Bianca stares at Dom and then rolls her eyes, focusing on Wyatt.

"Word on what?" Wyatt asks.

"On your brother."

"Nothing." Wyatt answers.

"Are you serious?" Bianca asks.

"Look, Chris is a very stubborn guy. Once his mind is made up, it's hard to change it but I did plant the seed in his mind. I just have to watch it grow."

"We need him, Wyatt." Bianca says.

"Need him for what?" Wyatt asks.

"He's the Professor X of the whole operation. What good is training if we don't have the knowledge to make us formidable?" Bianca asks.

"I'll ask him again after school." Wyatt says.

"Good." Bianca smiles "See you at 1600."

"1600?" Dom asks.

"4:00 p.m." Bianca says with a tiny bit of frustration.

"I knew that." Dom scoffs, stuffing another mozzarella stick in his mouth.

"Right." Bianca says as she stands up, "See you later, Wyatt."

Wyatt waves as Bianca walks away. Dom watches her walk away and then looks at Wyatt.

"That is one fine ass woman but I don't like her." Dom says.

"Why?" Wyatt asks.

"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about her whenever she comes close."

"Don't worry. Keeping her at an arm's length of a distance, Dom." Wyatt says as he takes a sip of his juice.

"If you say so, buddy." Dom says with doubt.

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Paige sits at the table with a map of the state of California sprawled out. She holds a knife over the map with a string tied to the tip. At the end of the tip, an amethyst crystal hangs as it sweeps over the map in search for Boake.

"Do you think he's even in San Francisco?" Laura asks.

"Wouldn't doubt it. That's why your app is scanning the city and I'm scrying the state." Paige says, "He can't go far considering Abaddon's headquarters is practically here."

"True." Laura says. She hesitates a little bit and then finally utters the words, "Poor Phoebe."

"I know." Paige agrees.

"I don't know what I would do if I began to lose the memories I have with the ones that I love." Laura says.

"We'll fix this before it gets really bad." Paige says.

"I hope so." Laura sighs, "What is your favorite memory growing up?"

"Uh, I don't know. I have several." Paige says as she continues to scry, "One in particular though was when I was 13, my best friend and I was supposed to sneak into the movies to watch Silence of the Lambs. I initially asked my parents to take me because it was an R rated movie and my parents protested. The movie came out on Valentine's Day that year and with my luck, she ended up getting a Valentine that year with Craig Johansson and left me hanging, and went to see the movie with him instead. I was really sad that night. The next night, my dad told me to get dressed because he taking me out. He took me out to dinner date and back then I thought was lame until after the dinner, he took me to see Silence of the Lambs. He told me to keep it between us because my mom didn't know and he didn't want her to know."

Paige smiles as she reminisces.

"He occasionally called me Clarice and did that fluttering sound with his mouth like Hannibal Lecter did." Paige laughs.

"That used to creep me out." Laura laughs along with Paige, "Still does."

"Yeah…" Paige sighs, "What about you? What is your favorite memory?"

A big smile grows on Laura's face as her mind drifts away, reminiscing.

"My parents split when I was younger so my siblings and I were raised by our mom. She worked at a restaurant and she always came home smelling like burgers. She worked the late shift so she always came home when I was sleeping, or so she thought." Laura begins, "Even when she thought I was sleeping, she always came in whenever she got home to give me a good night kiss."

"That's sweet." Paige says.

"Yeah, my favorite memory of her was whenever I had a nightmare; she will run into my room and cradle me in her arms while she stroke my hair. Then she would sing her favorite Beatles song, ' _Hey Jude_ ' as a lullaby and rock me back to sleep." Laura says with a smile, "I miss those days."

"That's really beautiful." Paige says, "She sounds like a sweet lady."

"She was." Laura says. As soon as the words left Laura's lips, the crystal Paige was scrying with drops on the map.

"Found him!" Paige says as she stands up. She looks at the location and marks it on the map.

"We have got to tell Piper and Phoebe." Laura says as she stands up.

"He's in San Bernardino right now so change the location on your app to San Bernardino and scry then so we can track him better." Paige says as she folds up the map and rushes out of the attic with Laura right behind her.

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With the potion boiling on the stove, Piper crushes a leaf with a little mortar and pestle and throws it in the potion.

"Now, a drop of bat's blood and three parts of toad milk." Piper says as she follows through on her directions, adding the ingredients. The potion begins to boil and bubble over. Piper turns the knob on the stove as it begins to simmer.

"Now we wait for the yarrow root and crystalized sand of time from Billie, then we bless the potion to complete it." Piper says.

"That's great." Phoebe says leaning against the counter as she watches Piper stir the pot, "Only thing missing is you cackling while you stir that potion."

"Very funny, Phoebe." Piper says as she rolls her eyes.

"Piper?" Phoebe calls.

"Hmm?"

"I'm scared." Phoebe confesses.

"Why are you scared? We're not going to let you die." Piper reiterates.

"I'm not scared of death." Phoebe says with tears in her eyes, "I'm scared I'm going to die without remembering my sisters, my husband, my children? That is a fate worse than death itself."

"Well, like we keep telling you, we will fix this." Piper reassures her sister, "Okay?"

"Okay." Phoebe whispers back. She begins to walk towards the living room.

"Where are you going?" Piper asks.

"Bathroom! I may be losing my mind but I still know where the bathroom is." Phoebe shouts.

Piper chuckles quietly to herself. Moments later, Paige and Laura run into the kitchen.

"We found him!" Laura announces.

"Good. The potion is almost done. We're just waiting for Billie." Piper says.

"Where's Phoebe?" Paige asks.

"Bathroom." Piper answers.

Billie walks into the kitchen from the back door.

"I got it!" she screams as she drops the bag on the counter. Piper grabs the brown paper bag and opens it. She pinches the yarrow root and drops it in the potion. She then grabs a pinch of the sand and sprinkles it in the potion.

"Now, we need to bless the potion." Piper says, "Paige, can you let Phoebe know we're ready?"

Paige nods as she runs out of the kitchen.

"Have we found Boake?" Billie asks.

"Yeah, he's in San Bernardino." Laura answers.

"Ok, good." Billie says.

Paige runs back into the kitchen in a panic.

"Uh guys, we have a problem." Paige says.

"What is it? Where's Phoebe?" Piper asks.

Paige gulps and steps to the side. A young girl, around the age of 9 or 10 walks into kitchen in a dress with long dark brown hair.

"Is that…?" Billie asks in shock.

"Phoebe." Piper says as she walks closer.

"Oh my God." Laura whispers.

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Mellie sits on a bench in a gazebo, with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate bridge. The park is filled with toddlers playing with their parents. Mellie smiles as she watches the children run around care free.

"Is this seat taken?" Chris asks as he appears behind her.

Mellie jumps and looks at her brother, who smiles sweetly.

"How did you find me?" Mellie asks.

"We're witches who can track each other, plus I am part whitelighter. I can sense you, remember?"

"I thought we made a pact not to use our powers on each other." Mellie says.

"You never showed up to our lunch date and you skipped school to come here. You never skip school so I had to rely on drastic measures." Chris says as he sits next to Mellie.

"Right…" Mellie says.

"What's going on?" Chris asks.

"Nothing…" Mellie lies.

"Mel?" Chris calls to his sister, "What's going on? Is it Tricia?"

"Am I selfish?" Mellie asks.

"Selfish? No!" Chris says, "You're far from selfish. You're one of the kindest, most generous, selfless people I have ever known."

"Yeah, well I don't really feel that way lately." Mellie says, sounding defeated.

"Don't do that." Chris says.

"It's the truth." Mellie says.

"Says who?"

"Tricia."

"I should've known." Chris says as he sighs heavily, "You shouldn't let people's opinion of you affect your self-esteem. It's called self-esteem for a reason."

"I try not to but it's hard." Mellie says.

"If everything was easy in life, then you will never feel good if you accomplished something you worked hard to get." Chris says.

"She's running against me now."

"Trish?"

"Yeah. She announced it this morning." Mellie says.

"Well then show the class and Tricia who deserves the job. You're doing it because you want to help your class. She's doing it because out of spite." Chris says, "Don't let her win by giving up."

Mellie smiles and leans her head on Chris' shoulder. Chris throws his arm around Mellie and kisses her on the forehead.

"Thanks." Mellie says softly.

"You're welcome." Chris answers, "How did you find this place anyway?"

"This is where dad used to bring me whenever I felt bad about something to make me feel better. It just kind of stuck with me." Mellie says.

"Well, it's nice." Chris says, "Now can we go back to the school before the school day ends? I think we can make it back before the last period starts."

"Okay." Mellie says as she stands up and Chris follows her.

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"Phoebe, honey?" Piper calls but Phoebe backs away slowly from Piper.

"What are you guys doing in my house? Who are you people?" Phoebe yells.

"Phoebe, calm down. We're your sisters." Piper answers.

"You're dreaming." Billie adds.

"Yeah, right. I'm 10. I'm not stupid." Phoebe says.

"Right." Laura groans.

"This is déjà vu all over again." Paige says.

"Tell me about it." Piper sighs.

"How are we going to bless the potion with a 10 year old with no powers?" Paige asks.

"She may not have her powers but we are innately magical so her blood will still work." Piper says.

"Are you sure?" Billie asks.

"Positive." Piper answers.

"Question still remains. How are you guys going to get her blood?" Billie asks.

"I think I have an idea." Piper answers. She walks to Phoebe and squats in front of her.

"Phoebe?" Piper says sweetly.

"Where's Grams?" Phoebe asks.

"Grams is at the store. We're your baby sitters." Piper lies.

"Grams never gets babysitters. You're lying." Phoebe shouts angrily.

"Phoebe, listen to me." Paige says, "You're right. We're lying, so here's the truth."

"Paige, what are you doing?" Piper asks.

"Calming her down." Paige answers.

"This is Piper and I'm your cousin, Paige."

"I don't know any cousin named Paige." Phoebe says calmly.

"You will. You remember the movie 'Back to the Future'?" Paige asks to which Phoebe nods happily.

"I love that movie!"

"Yeah, well you're in the future now." Paige says.

"Yeah right." Phoebe says with doubt.

"Follow me." Paige says as she grabs Phoebe's hand and walks into the living room.

Sitting on the tables are pictures of the sisters from their childhood until adulthood, mingled with their children's pictures as well.

"This is a picture of you, Piper and Prue when you were younger. And this is a picture of you and Piper when you went off to college." Paige points out, "This is a picture of you and your husband, Coop at your wedding."

"I'm married?" Phoebe asks with a smile.

"Yeah, your very own Prince Charming." Piper adds pointing to Coop's picture.

"He is cute." Phoebe laughs and the sisters laugh with her.

"You can look through the pictures for a second." Piper says, "Paige, Billie? Sidebar."

The girls walk to the side, still within an eye shot view of Phoebe.

"That was a good idea telling her the truth." Piper commends her sister.

"I just remembered when we had the same situation with the three Phoebes, the truth was the only thing that convinced young Phoebe to trust us, remember?" Paige says.

"I remember. So now what?" Piper asks.

"We still have to get the blood for the potion." Billie says.

"No." Piper says firmly.

"No?" Billie asks.

"We're not going to injure a little girl just so we can vanquish a demon." Piper says.

"Injure?" Billie begins, "It's just a prick of a finger. The drop of blood that may save her life."

"A prick on the finger of an 8 year old girl feels a hell of a lot like an injury to her than it would be to us. We will find another way." Piper says.

"But what about Boake?" Billie asks.

"We will find another way." Piper repeats sternly, "Paige, you stay with her while I go finish the potion. Billie, you look in the Book of Shadows for any other ways to bless a potion."

Billie nods and turns around and heads up the stairs.

"How much time do you think we have before Phoebe reaches the end?" Paige asks.

"I don't know." Piper whispers as she turns around and heads to the kitchen.

Paige takes a deep breath and joins Phoebe and Laura.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Boake paces back and forth in his lair with the potion he received from the healer sitting on a table before him. He anxiously glances over to the potion to see if the color changes but no such luck.

"How much longer do I have to wait?!" Boake screams.

"Just a few moments longer…" a familiar voice says, coming from the shadows.

Boake spins quickly to face the voice as the dark silhouette comes out of the shadows.

"Sebastian…" Boake says in a surprising tone, "I heard the rumors that you were dead."

"Obviously, rumors are exactly just that, rumors." Sebastian says as he begins to pace.

"What brings you here?" Boake asks.

" _He_ does. And he is not pleased with you." Sebastian answers.

"He who?"

"Abaddon." Sebastian answers.

"So he's really back and this is really happening?" Boake asks.

"Yes." Sebastian says calmly, "And you were supposed to provide him with the first artifact he needs to initiate his plan, but instead you got the Charmed Ones involved."

"That was unintentional, besides you know they were going to be involved if not because of me, then because of him." Boake replies.

"Well, you need to fix it before he has to." Sebastian says, "He's not ready for them to know anything."

"How does he intend to fix it?" Boake asks.

"His way of fixing it does not ensure your survival." Sebastian answers.

Boake takes a deep breath and exhales shakily.

"The next time he sends me here, you better have everything accomplished the way he asked you to." Sebastian says as looks at the potion and smiles, "It's ready now."

Boake looks at the potion and sees the changed color to blood red. He sighs and turns his head back to Sebastian only to find him gone.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Melinda walks into the Manor with Chris, Paisley, Paris, Penny, Henry Junior and Gabby. The children run all over the house and Chris walks into the living room to see Paige and Laura sitting with Phoebe.

"Hey, Chris." Laura greets.

"Hello." Chris says as he sits on the couch next to Paige. Mellie and Paris walk into the living room as well.

"What's going on? Where's Tricia?" Paige asks.

"She stayed behind at school to work on her campaign." Mellie answers.

"Her campaign? You mean yours, right?" Paige asks.

"Nope, she's running against me." Mellie answers.

"Oh, I'm sorry, honey." Paige says.

"It's ok. I need the competition." Mellie says as she smiles at Chris.

"That's a good attitude to have." Laura adds.

"So who's this?" Paris asks staring at young Phoebe.

"This is uh, this is Phoebe." Paige says.

"Mom?" Paris says as her eyes widen.

"Uh, Chris? Can you take them out of here?" Paige asks.

"I can help you guys." Chris pleads, "Please let me help you guys."

"I'm not sure that your mom would be ok with that." Paige says.

"I'm not asking to vanquish demons. I just want to help." Chris says.

"Ok. Get your sister and cousins upstairs, and then join Billie in the attic with the research." Paige says.

"Thank you!" Chris says as he jumps up and runs towards the rest of the kids.

"Come on, everyone! Let's go upstairs." Chris shouts.

"What's going on?" Junior asks.

"I'll tell you later." Chris answers.

Phoebe watches the children run up the stairs and then looks at Paige.

"I want to go with them." Phoebe says softly.

"We'll join them soon. Just not now." Paige says.

"I don't feel so good." Phoebe groans.

"Phoebe?" Laura calls to her as Phoebe begins to rock back and forth in pain. Phoebe begins to glow and in a blinding flash of light, the 8 year old disappears and a baby lies on the couch, crying.

"Oh my God." Paige screams.

"Piper?!" Laura yells.

"The potion is done! I blessed it and Paige, it's your turn!" Piper says as she walks into the living room, "What's going on?"

"Phoebe…" Paige says as she stands up, "We're running out of time."

Piper runs her fingers through her hair as she watches her baby sister crying. For the first time in a long time, her fear of losing a sister was slowly becoming a reality and she felt powerless to do anything to save her.

TO BE CONTINUED


	9. 10x05: Case of Phoebe Halliwell (4)

**10x05: The Curious Case of Phoebe Halliwell (Part 4)**

Piper sits in the family room with her mind wandering as far away from her body as possible. The chaotic background is elevated by baby Phoebe's cries and Paige runs around trying to figure out the next step.

"Piper?" Paige yells to which Piper does not respond, "Piper! Piper, snap out of it!"

Piper finally comes to her senses and stares at her sister.

"What are we doing next?" Paige asks.

"Huh?" Piper mumbles with her tone drenched with cluelessness. Her eyes meet Paige's but her attention was elsewhere.

"What are we doing about Phoebe?" Paige asks.

Piper's eyes drift towards Laura, who is holding Phoebe in her arms and trying to calm her down.

"Piper!" Paige yells once more.

"What?" Piper finally says.

"Stay with me." Paige pleads.

"Right." Piper sighs as she stands up.

"Do you have a plan?" Paige asks.

"Um…" Piper begins to say but no words come out. Her eyes fall on Phoebe and Laura once more and her mind goes blank.

"Oh, for the love of God." Paige groans as she turns to Laura.

"What do you plan on doing?" Laura asks.

"We have two hours on the clock right now so we're going to have to summon Boake and then strike a deal with him." Paige says.

"But I thought you guys were against negotiating with demons." Laura asks.

"That was before Phoebe turned into a crying, drooling one year old baby." Paige says.

"What if he doesn't agree to the terms you present him?" Laura asks.

"Then we will have to vanquish him." Paige says.

"But you don't have the complete potion and spell to vanquish him." Laura says.

"We'll figure something out." Paige says, "Can you keep an eye on Phoebe? Piper, come up with me to the attic."

Paige begins to march to the stairs and notices that Piper is still standing in the same spot, staring at Phoebe.

"Piper!" Paige yells but Piper does not move. Paige walks to Piper and holds her hand. She closes her eyes and both sisters disappear from sight surrounded by orbs.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper and Paige orb into the attic where Chris reads the Book of Shadows and Billie stares at her phone.

"What's going on?" Billie asks, "Whose baby is that downstairs?"

"Phoebe." Paige answers.

"Excuse me?" Billie stutters.

"Yup." Paige answers, "So we're summoning the sorcerer now."

"Wait, without the potion and the spell?" Billie asks.

"We don't have a choice." Paige states.

"We have to save Phoebe before it's too late." Piper finally chimes in.

"What?" Billie asks.

Chris continues to read the Book, scanning through the various notes Phoebe has written on her notepad and the sticky notes plastered all over the Book. A hit of realization hits him and his eyes light up with glee.

"Paige is right. We will have to summon the sorcerer here and then wing it from there." Piper says.

"Guys…" Chris says trying to get their attention.

"You guys always told me to go into a battle prepared and now you guys are doing the exact opposite. What the hell?!" Billie says as her frustration grows.

"We have less than two hours before the twenty four hour window is up and Phoebe dies. We don't have a choice anymore." Piper yells.

"Mom…" Chris tries again

"But going against such a strong opponent without any weapons at your disposal is suicide." Billie warns.

"Maybe two out of three witches blessing that potion will be enough?" Paige guesses.

"Guys?" Chris tries to raise his voice but nothing happens.

"It's better than nothing." Piper says.

"What about the spell? I thought the combination of the spell and the potion was risky enough. Just the potion with two out of three Charmed Ones will barely make a dent." Billie says.

"It's a risk we're going to have to take." Piper says.

Chris places the Book on the couch, sticks his fingers in his mouth and whistles really loudly, finally getting the attention of his mother, aunt and Billie.

"Gahhh!" Piper winces.

"What?!" Paige yells.

"I think I've found a solution to your problem." Chris finally says.

"What are you doing up here anyway?" Piper asks.

"I wanted to help and Aunt Paige told me I could come up here and try." Chris answers.

"Paige?" Piper says looking at Paige angrily.

"It was an all hands on deck situation and apparently he found something so let's hear him out." Paige says softly while Piper folds her arms angrily.

"For starters, Aunt Phoebe made notes on here about the spell that might help vanquish the sorcerer. All you guys have to do is piece together the spells she wrote and you guys will be fine." Chris says.

"That's it?" Piper asks, sounding a little bit disappointed.

"The other part is the potion thing." Chris says.

"We need the blood of all three of us to bless the potion." Paige says.

"Not necessarily." Chris says as he walks to the book and opens it up, "The common way for a witch to bless a potion is by using a drop of their blood, that part is true but an uncommon and rare way to do the same thing is to use the tear of the witch needed to bless the potion."

"Come again?" Paige asks.

"A tear works just as well as a drop of blood to bless the potion, maybe even better. Our powers are tied to our emotions and most of the time; our emotions produce tears whether it is anger, love, tears of joy. The tear becomes more powerful because of the emotion behind it when it was manifested." Chris explains.

"Chris, you're a genius!" Paige says as she hugs Chris and kisses him on his forehead.

"How did you know about all of this?" Billie asks.

"Reading a lot of books on Wicca and Aunt Phoebe's notes in the Book kind of helped me piece it together." Chris says.

"That's great, Chris. I'm proud of you." Piper says as she hugs Chris.

"With Phoebe crying her ass off downstairs, a tear will not be hard to get." Paige says.

"Ok, so I'll piece together the spell and Piper, get the tear from Phoebe and call me when you're done so I can bless the potion." Paige says.

"What should I do?" Chris asks.

"You've done enough; we've got it from here." Piper says.

"But mom…"

"No buts, you are lucky we even let you do this." Piper adds.

"Aunt Paige?" Chris turns to his aunt.

"Piper, maybe you should…"

"No! Go to your room." Piper instructs.

Chris takes a deep breath and storms out of the attic.

"Ok, we've got a lot of work to do so chop, chop…" Piper says as she claps her hands and walks out of the attic.

Paige takes the Book and places it on the podium. She grabs Phoebe's notepad and begins to combine the spells.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The evening streaks created by the setting sun casts a glow across the city of San Francisco. Wyatt and Bianca walk down an empty street with their backpacks heading towards a remote area in the city.

"How much further is this place? If I knew it was this far, I could have orbed us." Wyatt says.

"Maybe in the future but I wanted us to get here without magic for your first time here." Bianca says.

"Well, we better be getting there in at least five minutes or else I'm orbing home." Wyatt says.

"We're almost there. Don't worry." Bianca assures him, "So I'm guessing Chris turned down the offer again."

"I didn't get to speak to him after this morning so I don't know." Wyatt replies.

Bianca sighs heavily.

"Why do you want my brother in this so bad?" Wyatt asks.

"I don't know. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. You are extremely powerful, I have the martial arts and the combat skills, and he has the extensive knowledge on witchcraft, spells and potions. It's a perfect combination." Bianca explains.

"How do you know that from just one encounter with vampires?" Wyatt asks as he comes to a halt.

"Well, your family is famous. From your ancestor Melinda Warren down to your mom and her sisters, every magical battle they have ever faced is documented for witches to learn from. Besides, I have the power of intuition and it's never wrong. I wasn't wrong about you and that means I am not wrong about Chris either."

"Right." Wyatt whispers.

"We're here." Bianca says with a smile, pointing a raggedy warehouse. The house has a few busted windows with its hue reminiscent of the Golden Gate bridge. The majority of the paint covering the house has peeled and the aluminum roof has been tinged with rust.

"This is the place you set us up to train?" Wyatt asks with a disgusted face.

"Come on!" Bianca says as she runs to the spot.

Wyatt hesitates and runs after her.

In pitch darkness, a loud sound can be heard the giant garage door is dragged open and the orange light from the sky breaks the darkness within the warehouse. The silhouettes of Bianca and Wyatt are seen as Bianca walks into the dark warehouse and Wyatt follows suit. A second later, Bianca turns on the light and the fluorescent lights light up the warehouse. The interior of the warehouse is just as hideous as the exterior. The ceiling was coated with traces of dried dirty water. The floors and walls were cracked with oil stains on them. Bianca walks further into the warehouse and reaches a door.

"Come on!" she calls as she opens the door.

"I'm not going in there. I'm surprised I made it in this far." Wyatt says as he looks around disgusted.

"This is as worse as it gets. Come on." Bianca says as she opens the door and walks through. A bright blue light flashes after Bianca walks through the door and Wyatt widens his eyes in surprise.

Wyatt approaches the door and opens it. He steps into the room and closes the door. A blue light forms and engulfs him as he disappears from sight. He reappears in a gym like space where Bianca stood waiting for him. He looks around and sees cemented floors, carpeted walls, great insulation, great lighting in a big space.

"Wow." Wyatt says amazed.

"This is where it begins. You ready?" Bianca asks.

Wyatt nods while in a trance.

"Great." Bianca says as she flips a switch on the wall and three demons materialize before them.

"Um…Bianca?"

"Simulations, Wyatt." Bianca says as she changes her stance into a combative one.

The demons form energy balls and approach the two witches. Wyatt backs up slowly as the demons walk towards Bianca and Wyatt.

The demons hurl their energy balls at Wyatt and Bianca. With a wave of his hand, Wyatt conjures his shield and the energy balls sizzle as they collide with his shield. Wyatt looks at his hands and then at Bianca. With a smile, his fear subsides and his confidence grows.

"Let's do this." Wyatt shouts.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A minor explosion accompanied with a cloud of smoke rises from the pot on the stove as Piper adds the final ingredient to the potion. Laura walks into the kitchen with Phoebe in her arms.

"Is the potion ready?" Laura asks.

"Yeah, we just need to bless it and then bottle it up for the fight." Piper says.

Piper grabs a knife and quickly pokes her finger. She squeezes a couple of drops of blood into the potion and the potion bubbles with every drop.

"Now we just need Phoebe and Paige's." Piper says as she walks towards baby Phoebe.

"Now, I'm sorry Phoebe." Piper whispers as she pinches Phoebe's leg and baby Phoebe begins to cry.

Laura gives Piper a dirty look to which Piper replies, "It's either this or poking her for her blood."

Piper takes a teaspoon and places it Phoebe's cheek until a drop of tear falls from her eye. Piper drops the tear into the potion and it sizzles and bubbles over the stove.

"You think that's a good sign?" Laura asks.

"Hopefully." Piper answers.

Paige runs into the kitchen with a paper in her hand and Billie right behind her.

"You got the spell?" Piper asks.

"Yup." Paige answers as she waves the paper in the air, "How about the potion?"

"Just needs your blessing." Piper answers as she passes Paige the knife.

Paige winces as she grabs the handle. She pricks her finger and squeezes a few drops into the potion and another tiny explosion occurs.

"I'm guessing that means the potion is done?" Billie says.

"I'll fill up the vials. Paige, get the summoning spell." Piper instructs.

"What time is it?" Paige asks.

"It's almost 8 o'clock." Laura answers, checking her watch.

"The curse expires at 8:15 so we have got to hurry up." Piper says as she bottles up one vial and begins to fill up the second. She finishes putting the cork on the second vial and stares at her sister.

"How are you going to cast a power of three spell with a baby?" Billie asks.

"The power of three works through connection. All we have to do is touch hands." Paige explains, "Phoebe is still Phoebe even if she's a miniature."

"Let's get this over with." Piper says as she takes a deep breath and walks out of the kitchen. The women follow. A few moments later, the girls stand in the attic with Piper in the center, Paige to the left and Laura to the right of her. Billie tosses a potion at their feet and the three women disappear from sight.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Boake paces back and forth in a panic. He unsheathes the blade and stares at it. He places the blade on the table and looks up.

"I will not let them defeat me. I'll bring the fight to them." Boake mumbles to himself.

"Too late." Paige says as she appears in the dark with Piper and Laura, who is holding Phoebe by her side.

"We're here to negotiate again, not to fight…" Piper says calmly.

"Negotiate?" Boake laughs, "To negotiate, you must have something valuable to trade. I already have the blade so I don't think so."

"Your life for my sister's." Piper says, "You reverse the curse you placed on Phoebe and we will not vanquish you. Refuse and we will send you straight to the wasteland."

"You must have forgotten that you do not possess the tools to vanquish me and even if you did, you'll require the power of three, which you guys currently do not have." Boake says.

"I will make my offer one more time." Piper repeats.

"You must forget that even if you find some miracle to vanquish me, my death will not reverse anything." Boake reiterates.

"I will take my chances." Piper says.

"Maybe I should take my chances and cast my curse on you…" Boake says with a smile.

Piper thrusts her hands forth and freezes Boake once more. He begins to fight the freeze as Laura and Paige walk closer to Piper. Piper holds Paige's hand and grabs Phoebe's tiny hand while she sleeps and they begin to chant.

" _Powers of the Charmed Ones rise  
Release the magical bonds that bind  
Curtail his gift, impair his strength  
To welcome death and meet his end._"

Boake unfreezes as white lights surround him.

"What is this?!" he asks as he begins to scream.

"Any last words?" Paige asks.

"You will regret this!" Boake screams as Piper and Paige toss the potion at him and he explodes in an instant.

Piper takes a deep breath and looks at Paige.

"Well, that was easy." Piper says sarcastically.

"Now what?" Laura asks.

"Look what Boake left behind." Paige says as she walks to the table and picks up the blade.

"Let's go home." Piper says as she grabs her sister and Laura. She takes Phoebe from Laura and Phoebe opens her eyes and smiles. Piper smiles in return and Paige tosses the potion at their feet, disappearing from sight.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper sits on the couch in the attic, rocking back and forth with Phoebe in her arms. Paige walks into the darkly dimmed attic.

"Hey, it's 8:30. I was coming to see if there's any change in Phoebe's…" Paige begins but pauses when she sees Piper sobbing quietly.

Piper shakes her head and looks down at baby Phoebe.

"She died ten minutes ago." Piper says between sobs.

"No." Paige gasps as tears form in her eyes. She walks towards Piper and looks down at baby Phoebe who looks like she's sleeping peacefully.

"It can't be. We vanquished Boake. Everything should've been fine now." Paige says breaking into tears.

"Boake said his death wasn't going to change anything, and he was right." Piper says with a sniffle.

"What are we going to do now?" Paige asks as she strokes Phoebe's cheek gently with her fingers, "What are Coop and the girls going to do?"

"We'll be there to help them. We all suffered this loss, not just them." Piper says.

"What about Laylah? Can't she do anything?" Paige asks.

"I already tried. She says it is out of her hands." Piper answers.

"This cannot be happening." Paige sobs uncontrollably.

Piper grabs Paige's hand and then looks at Phoebe.

"Let's go downstairs. A family meeting is in order." Piper says as she stands up. Paige stands with her and together, the sisters walk out of the attic filled with grief.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The grandfather's clock in the Manor chimes at 11:00 pm with a pink beam of light shining on its surface. Henry and Coop beam into the Manor and immediately run up the stairs. They reach the second floor where Paige stands in the hallway with Billie and Laura crying. Henry walks up to Paige and hugs her. As Henry wraps her arms around Paige, she breaks down and release a painful wail accompanied but mini sobs.

Coop walks closer to the door and looks back at Paige. He grabs the handle of the door and opens it. She sees Piper sitting on the bed with baby Phoebe still swaddled in the blankets. Coop's eyes well up with tears when his eyes meets Piper's and he sits down on the bed, opposite Piper.

"I'm so sorry." Piper says.

Coop doesn't say a word. He leans forward and kisses baby Phoebe on her forehead. He looks at Piper and then back at Phoebe.

"The girls…" Coop says, "How am I going to tell the girls?"

"We'll help you." Piper says, "It will be easier that way."

"Where are they?" Coop asks.

"In the room next door with Chris and Mellie." Piper says as she clears her throat.

Coop nods and stands up. He walks out of the room and Paige walks in. Piper lies on the bed and Paige lies on the opposite side with Phoebe's body in the middle.

"I remember when I was 13, I had a crush on a boy named Billy Wilson but I was afraid to approach him. Phoebe was always fearless so she gave me pointers on how to talk to a guy." Piper begins as she reminisces her memories with Phoebe, "She gave me tips on how to initiate conversations and try to figure out if a guy likes me or not. She taught Prue and me how to French kiss and we started dating in the eighth grade."

"So she's been playing matchmaker since she was in elementary school?" Paige snickers through the tears.

"Something like that." Piper says calmly.

"So what happened?" Paige asks.

"I ended up catching the two of them under the bleachers at homecoming. Her excuse was that she was helping him 'find a contact lens'."

Paige laughs at the last comment.

"I was so angry at her; we didn't talk to each other for weeks until after winter break. Grams forced us to talk again but we only spoke when Grams was around and that was it. That summer, we went to summer camp and there was this bully who teased me because I wore my hair in pigtails all the time." Piper laughs, "Even though we were mad at each other, Phoebe stood up for me and put Jan Fefferman in her place."

"The bully's name was Jan Fefferman?" Paige asks, "No wonder she was a bully. She has a reason to be angry every day with a name like that."

Piper chuckles, "That summer, Prue, Phoebe and I made a blood oath to be friends forever, not just sisters and never to let anything get in between us again."

Piper turns and looks at Phoebe's body, "All those fights and arguments seem meaningless at this point. I'll give anything to have my sister back."

"Me too." Paige whispers.

The door swings open and Coop walks into the room with Tricia, Paris and Paisley. Piper sits up quickly.

"Coop, what are you doing?" Piper asks.

"The girls wanted to see their mother." Coop says as his voice breaks, "I couldn't deny them that request."

Paige sits up and wipes her tears. She stands up and waves at the girls, gesturing them to come closer.

Paris and Paisley climb onto the bed and Tricia sits next to Piper.

"Why does mommy look like a baby?" Paisley asks.

"It's because of the curse, baby." Coop answers.

Tricia looks at her mother and looks at Coop.

"It's ok, baby." Coop says to her.

Tricia's eyes well up with tears as she leans closer and grabs her mother's tiny hand.

"She's so small." Paris says quietly.

"She looks like she's sleeping." Paisley adds.

"There's nothing we can do to wake her up?" Tricia asks.

"No, baby. We've tried everything." Paige says softly.

Tricia looks at her sisters and then her aunts. Paris grabs Phoebe's other hand and kisses it. Paisley grabs Tricia's right hand and Paris' left hand for comfort as she begins to cry. Tricia leans forward and kisses Phoebe on her forehead; Paris strokes her mother's hair and kisses her cheek and Paisley kisses her mother on the other cheek.

Tricia stands up and runs out of the room in tears.

"Tricia!" Coop calls after her. He looks at Piper and Phoebe and then walks out of the room.

Paris and Paisley jump off the bed and go after their father.

"That was heartbreaking to watch." Piper says.

"I know." Paige responds, "Let's go see if they're ok."

"You go." Piper says, "I'm going to stay here with Phoebe."

Paige nods and walks out of the room. Piper takes a deep breath and lies back down next to Phoebe. Piper stares at Phoebe and the tears begin to flow from her eyes.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The grandfather's clock strikes again at midnight, chiming loudly for all the occupants in the Manor to hear. The clock sounds off twelve times, usually signaling a brand new day but the day begins filled with sorrow. The entire Halliwell family sit in the living room, consoling each other. Upstairs, the chiming of the clock is very faint, and the sound is drowned by Piper's light snoring.

An orange glow forms around baby Phoebe and in an instant, the body morphs from a baby and back into a full grown adult. Phoebe's eyes open quickly and she takes a deep breath as she sits up. She looks around the room and then looks down at her sister who is still in a deep sleep.

"What the hell?" Phoebe says as she looks around, "Piper?"

"Hmm?" Piper mumbles.

"Piper, wake up." Phoebe says as she shakes Piper awake.

"Give me a second, Phoebe. I'm too tired." Piper says as she rolls over and yawns loudly.

Phoebe smiles and stands up from the bed. Piper opens her eyes quickly and sits up to see Phoebe standing in front of her.

"Phoebe?!" Piper calls as she stands up.

"What's going on?" Phoebe asks.

"Oh my God!" Piper exclaims as she runs to Phoebe and throws her arms around her.

"Oh, oh okay, now I'm confused." Phoebe says.

"You were dead and now you're not." Piper explains.

"Yeah, but how many times have we 'died' and come back to life?" Phoebe jokes.

"This time was different. There was no known or sure way to bring you back." Piper says.

"Well, I'm here."

"Coop and your girls!" Piper says excitedly, "They've got to see this!"

"See what?" Phoebe asks as Piper yanks her out of the bedroom and runs towards the stairs.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Tricia sits on a chair by herself, with Paris sitting across from her. Paisley is fast asleep with her head on Coop's lap. Coop stares blankly into the air with his eyes swollen and red from crying. Leo, Paige, Henry and Laura all sit on the couches with Mellie, Junior, Chris and the twins.

Piper comes back down the stairs and walks into the family room where the entire family is seated.

"Guys?" Piper calls gently.

"What's up, Piper?" Billie asks.

Piper smiles and steps aside as Phoebe walks into the room.

"Guess who's back?" Phoebe smiles.

"Oh my God, Phoebe?!" Billie screams as she runs to Phoebe and hugs her. Mellie, Chris, the twins and Junior join in on the hug. Paige hugs Phoebe from behind as Leo and Henry watch with a smile on the side.

"We thought we lost you!" Laura says with tears in her eyes.

"Well, I'm right here." Phoebe says with a tearful smile.

The crowd parts and Phoebe looks up to see Coop standing with Paris, Paisley and Tricia standing in front of him. Paris and Paisley run to their mother and Phoebe drops to her knees, embracing them tightly. She kisses them on their cheek and smiles.

Phoebe stands up and looks at Coop who walks closer to his wife. Without a word, he grabs Phoebe's face and kisses her passionately as tears flow down his face from his closed eyes.

"I never want to live through that feeling again. Don't let it happen again." Coop says through his tears.

Phoebe nods happily and kisses him again. Coop steps to the side with his arm around Phoebe. Phoebe looks at Tricia and opens her arms.

Tricia walks slowly towards her mother.

"Come on, baby. It's me." Phoebe says.

"Do you remember me?" Tricia asks.

"What?" Phoebe asks in confusion.

"Do you remember me?" Tricia asks once more.

"Patricia Halliwell, my first born." Phoebe says as she begins to cry, "I will never let you feel forgotten ever again."

Tricia smiles and runs into her mother's arms. Everybody watches the tearful reunion as jubilee and excitement fills the air.

"What do you remember?" Paige asks.

"Everything. Even when I regressed in age, I still remember everything that happened." Phoebe says. Phoebe looks around and looks at Piper.

"Hey, where's Wyatt?" Phoebe asks.

Everyone begins to look around, finally realizing that Wyatt has not been among them the entire time. Almost as if it was timed, the front door swings open and gently closes as Wyatt tip toes into the Manor, trying to be incognito.

Piper clears her throat loudly which causes Wyatt to jump. Wyatt smiles nervously.

"I'm sorry mom, the practice took long and I stayed at a friend's house afterwards and fell asleep…" Wyatt says. Leo and Piper fold their arms and stares at him angrily.

"I'm in big trouble, aren't I?" Wyatt chuckles nervously.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Scenes of the city can be seen as the sun rises over the horizon. The Halliwell Manor is seen and Chris sits by the window in his room, staring at the street down below.

"So what exactly happened last night?" Wyatt asks.

"Let's see…" Chris begins, "Aunt Phoebe regressed until she was basically a baby and she died, I helped mom and Aunt Paige with their potion to vanquish the sorcerer and the whole family was a mess until Aunt Phoebe came back to life."

"How did she come back to life?" Wyatt asks.

"The magic of the witching hour." Chris explains, "Midnight is when all magic is either the most powerful or weakest, depending on the situation. When mom and Aunt Paige vanquished the sorcerer, his curse was still in place but it was basically suspended until midnight and the curse reversed itself so her death was null and void in the eyes of the grand design. That's why Aunt Phoebe was a baby until midnight."

"How do you know all of this?" Wyatt asks.

"I read a lot. I like to know the explanation for things and it helps make everything make sense for me. Kind of figured it out after reading the book for hours yesterday." Chris explains.

"You know, this is the reason why you should have joined me and Bianca in the training yesterday. You know things that I don't even think mom and her sisters know, and they're the freaking Charmed Ones." Wyatt says.

"So that's what you were doing?" Chris asks, "You were training with Bianca?"

"Yeah, and I was hesitant at first but I feel like it's going to be good in the long run." Wyatt says, "You should seriously join us. We need you, Chris."

Chris takes a deep breath and stares out the window, watching the sun rising.

"You know I helped mom figure out how to make the potion that vanquished the sorcerer and they still didn't let me help them afterwards." Chris says.

"That's because no matter how old you get, you'll always be a kid in their eyes. How much longer are you going to let them dismiss you before it's too late? What happened last night should be proof that you need this training too. We can't rely on them forever, Chris. The time will come where they'll need to rely on us."

"Ok. I give up." Chris sighs, "I'll join your freaking X-Men team but any funny business and I'm out."

"I promise you, you'll enjoy it and learn a whole lot more than you think you know now." Wyatt smiles, "You won't regret it."

"Ok." Chris whispers.

After a brief silence in the room, Chris looks back at Wyatt, "So you couldn't sneak back into the house through the back door, or at least orb into the house? You came in through the front door?"

"Shut up, Chris." Wyatt says as he takes his pillow and tosses it at Chris, "I'm grounded for two weeks because of it."

"You suck at being bad." Chris laughs.

Wyatt takes another pillow and throws it at his brother, who laughs even harder.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Phoebe sits at the dining room table in the Manor, lost deep in her thoughts. Piper and Paige come down the stairs and sit down next to her.

"You okay?" Piper asks.

"Yeah, I'm alright for a recently deceased person." Phoebe jokes.

"I think it's too soon to make that joke." Paige says.

"It's never too soon." Phoebe chuckles.

"What's on your mind?" Piper asks.

"For starters, I have decided to stay in San Francisco permanently." Phoebe announces which causes Piper to squeal with excitement.

"That's great, Phoebe." Paige says.

"Yeah, recent events have shown me that I really need to put my priorities in order. The whole dying thing brought everything into focus." Phoebe says.

"But you've died plenty of times before last night." Piper says.

"Yeah, but this is the first time I died with a husband, and with my kids." Phoebe says, "The look my kids gave me this morning and the pain in Coop's eyes…"

Phoebe pauses as she begins to get choked up.

"I never want to do that again. I love my life but this curse made me realize how much I love being a witch. How much I love saving innocents, finding the solution to nearly impossible situations and how well we work together." Phoebe says.

"I guess Laylah was right to take away our secondary powers, huh?" Piper says to which Phoebe and Paige nod their heads in response.

"What do we do now?" Paige asks.

"Live our lives, but never forget the most important thing…" Phoebe says, "Our children, our husbands and our sisterhood. We should put our lives first being Charmed is our lives too and we shouldn't neglect our duties."

"Right." Paige says as she stands up, "Now, I'm going to wake up the kids and get them ready for school."

"No, let them sleep." Piper says, "It was a long night. They need the day off. I'm thinking we should probably go to the Embarcadero for a family day or something, right?"

"Sounds good to me." Phoebe says.

"Same here." Paige agrees as she sits back down.

Phoebe grabs her sisters' hands and smiles. Paige grabs Piper's hand and their joined hands form a circle.

Upstairs in the attic, the Book of Shadows rests on the podium, still opened. The Book flips until it closes and the triquetra on the cover glows orange for a brief moment.

FADE TO BLACK

END OF EPISODE.

Guest Starring:

Evan Peters as Boake

Devin Gordon as Quinton "Q"

Kaley Cuoco as Billie

Ivan Sergei as Henry

Victor Webster as Coop

Geoff Stults as Sebastian

Sarah Jane Morris as Laylah

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Henry Jr.

Isabela Moner as Bianca

Curtis Harris as Dominic Frye

Sandra Prosper as Sheila

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

Tiffani Thiessen as Laura

Rebecca Balding as Elise

Amanda Sankey as Sophie

Mackenzie Ziegler as 10 year old Phoebe Halliwell


	10. 10x06: The Dark Lighter Rises (1)

_Author's Note: I just want to shout out all of the people who are following my story so far. To the ones reading, I appreciate you. To those who are following/fav my Season 10, you guys are awesome and I am forever grateful._ _I will try my best to shout out those who follow my work and comment via reviews between 'episodes' just so you guys know I read and acknowledge them._

 _So to:_

 _xoLastGoodbyeox, Murron Bartlett, Supernatural lover XD, Hkff 13, P4ForeverMore, BlueThunder83, Boomer1125, Regishale2007, Selina992, zzxcev, Rasulpr, Kizrock94, TheLittleCatmole, MsDrea & LycantheGR33N; _

_I really appreciate you all for the follow and favs._

 _To Lillywhitelight, MsDrea again, Trisno1907, Kate Groat, Anthony, ElfieZaid, D and the guest reviewers;_

 _From the bottom of my heart, I thank you guys for showing love. Your comments make my heart jump with joy. I have only begun to scratch the surface of the main storyline so you guys ain't seen nothin' yet! Please continue to read and review. Once again, I appreciate the love._

 _-KingKenfordIV_

* * *

 **10x06: The Dark Lighter Rises (Part 1)**

Thunder claps and lightning flashes in downtown San Francisco at night with the moon hovering above the city. A quick flash of lightning leads us to an apartment complex. Within the apartment, a man lies in bed fast asleep but he is tossing and turning, mumbling and muttering in his sleep.

 _(A flash into his dreams):_

 _The scene changes to the South Bay Social Services. The man, tall with dark brown hair walks up to the receptionist with his wife, a blonde woman by his side._

" _Jake and Carol Grisanti for Mr. Cowan." The man introduces himself to the receptionist._

" _Okay, I'll let him know that you're here." The receptionist responds._

Still lying in his bed tossing and turning, Jake Grisanti begins to sweat profusely.

 _(Another flash back into his dreams):_

" _He'll be with you in a few minutes." The receptionist discloses. Jake nods and goes over to his wife._

" _I'm going to go wash up, all right?" he says gently to her and leaves._

A flash back to present day shows Jake tossing and turning as his breathing pattern increases.

 _(Back into his flashback dream):_

 _Jake walks into the bathroom and turns on the faucet. He dips his hands into the water and washes his face. The lights in the bathroom flash and he turns to find Shane standing there._

" _What do you want?" Jake asks._

 _The Source comes out of Shane and possesses Jake. Jake's eyes flame out and turn black._

Jake gasps and sits up in his bed, clearly out of breath. He looks around, his ragged breathing breaking mixed with the beating of the rain on his window pane. He wipes his forehead and throws the covers of his bed off of him and walks away into his bathroom.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Dorian Gregory

Created by: Constance M. Burge

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Melinda Prudence Halliwell was the youngest child and only daughter of Piper and Leo and everyone in her family never let her forget it. In a family that exudes perfection, Mellie always felt like she was the odd one out. Her father, Leo was a successful businessman, managing the club and restaurant owned by her mother, Piper. Her mother was locally famous because of her club and her restaurant. Her oldest brother, Wyatt was the typical jock; always excelling at whatever sport he set his mind to participate in; and her older brother Chris was the bookworm of the family with the perfect grades. Success came easy to them, at least in her eyes it seemed that way.

Both her brothers were born with whitelighter genes which greatly influenced their powers, and by the time she was conceived and born, Mellie was devoid of all the whitelighter qualities that her brothers shared because her father was a mortal. This pained Mellie greatly but she was always good at turning her own misfortunes and disadvantages in her favor.

Her brief life had always been marred with challenges guaranteed to make her fail but she was strong willed and ambitious like her name sake. Her mother told her stories about Melinda Warren and Prue Halliwell, emphasizing how these great women were powerful witches who shaped and saved their lives countless times and shaped their destiny. Mellie relied on these stories as reinforcement during difficult times, drawing courage from their legacy and vowing to live up to their name.

Mellie sits in her room staring at her laptop absentmindedly. On the screen of the laptop is a school campaign ad Tricia posted on the school website. Disbelief and anger run through her mind as she reads the positive comments posted underneath the video.

"This is great. Just great." Mellie mumbles to herself.

A light knock is heard on her bedroom door and the door opens slightly with Chris standing at the door.

"Hey, Mel, mom wanted me to see if you're ready for breakfast." Chris asks softly.

Mellie doesn't answer, her eyes still glued to her laptop screen.

Chris walks into the room and closes the door.

"Mellie, are you okay?" Chris asks as he sits down next to Mellie. He looks at her laptop screen, "Is that Tricia?"

Mellie sighs heavily in response.

"She's really running against you, huh?" Chris asks, "Do you want me to talk to her?"

"No." Mellie finally utters, "It's too late now. I'll figure something out."

"Let me help you. I can create a slideshow or something…" Chris offers.

"The debate and election is today. It's too late." Mellie says in a sullen voice, "Besides, asking for help is what got me in this mess in the first place."

"Mel…"

"It's ok, Chris." Mellie says, "I can handle it. I'll keep swinging until the end, even if I lose. Just tell mom I'll be down for breakfast soon."

Chris stares at his little sister, not knowing what to do or say. He stands up and kisses Mellie on the forehead.

"I'll see you soon, huh?" Chris asks as Mellie nods in response.

Chris walks out of the room and closes the door gently. Mellie slams her laptop shut and stares at her flier, which looks mediocre in comparison to Tricia's. She crumples it up and throws it in the trash can across the room.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The gray clouds hover over the Bay area as the rain continues its tirade. The streets of San Francisco are flooded with cars moving slowly, making for a horrible morning commute. The Halliwell Manor can be seen as Phoebe and Paige's cars pull up and park in front of the house.

"Are you ready to run inside?" Phoebe asks Tricia, who is sitting in the passenger seat of the car.

"We can just have Paisley beam us inside, mom." Tricia says as she looks into the back seat and smiles at her sisters.

"No, no. No magic." Phoebe says.

"But mom today is the election and I cannot go to school soaking wet." Tricia says.

"No magic!" Phoebe emphasizes.

"Mom, you and Aunt Piper really need to let go of this 'no magic' rule." Tricia groans.

"The rule exists for a reason, Tricia. It's to keep you safe." Phoebe says.

"Sure, tell yourself whatever you need to say to make it sound right in your mind." Tricia says.

A brief silence fills the car as the rain beats down on the car heavily. A crack of thunder sounds the air and Phoebe looks at her kids and then looks up at the entrance to the Manor.

"Ok, on the count of three, we'll run out of the car and then run to the door." Phoebe says as she zips up her jacket and places the hood on her head, "Ready?"

"Nope…" Paisley shouts from the backseat.

"One? Two? Three!" Phoebe says as she opens the door to her car and runs out. Phoebe slams the door shut as she runs up the stairs and then finally reaches the stained glass door of the Manor. She opens the door and shouts loudly in victory. She looks back to see if her children followed suit but they are nowhere to be found.

"Trish?! Pais? Paris?" Phoebe yells out the door, but her voice is drowned out by the rain. A few seconds later, a pink beam appears behind Phoebe and her three daughters materialize as the light disappears.

"We're right here, mom." Paris says.

Phoebe spins around and her facial expression changes into anger instantaneously.

"What part of no magic did you not understand?" Phoebe yells.

"The 'no magic' part?" Paisley jokes.

"I'm sorry mom, but today is the election and there's no way I was going to step into school with my hair all messed up. I think it is worth whatever punishment you're thinking about right now." Tricia says as Paris laughs afterwards.

Showers of blue and white orbs appear between Phoebe and her children and Henry, Paige, Junior and the twins appear before them.

"Paige?!" Phoebe yells in disbelief, "No magic!"

"Come on, Phoebe. It's just orbing into the house, it's not a big deal." Paige says in an unconcerned voice.

"Great example you're setting for our children there." Phoebe says.

"You need to relax, Phoebe." Paige says as she turns to her kids, "You kids go on and have breakfast."

The children run into the dining room.

"What happened to the no magic rule? Am I the only one who's abiding by them?" Phoebe whispers.

"No, but the kids need to blow off some magical steam every once in a while or else things can get dangerous. You of all people should know this." Paige says.

"Whatever." Phoebe says as she walks towards the dining room table where Piper is setting up the breakfast plates.

"Take it easy, the food will be out shortly." Piper says, "Just take a seat and be patient, kids."

The children pull out the chairs and take their seats, waiting for the food to hit the table.

Piper turns around and walks into the kitchen and her sisters and Henry follow her. In the kitchen, Leo stands by the counter reading a newspaper.

"Hey Leo." Henry greets as he walks next to Leo.

"Good morning, Henry." Leo says as he gently taps Henry on his shoulder.

"Uh, where's Coop?" Piper asks.

"He'll be here soon. He was with a charge yesterday. He's almost done." Phoebe says.

"Ahh, the good old days." Leo says sarcastically to which Piper shoots a funny glance at him and smiles.

"Weren't you supposed to start working today, Phoebe?" Henry asks as he takes a bagel from the pile on the table and splits it open. He throws them in the toaster oven and turns the knobs.

"Uh, yeah but since we decided to stay in San Francisco, Elise gave me 2 weeks of house hunting leave." Phoebe answers.

"House hunting leave? You're searching for a house?" Paige asks.

"Yeah. I can't live in the hotel and come up here for breakfast everyday forever." Phoebe answers.

"I don't mind doing the breakfast thing. You know that." Piper says as she picks up the bowl full of scrambled eggs and sausages, "Paige, can you grab the waffles and the syrup please?"

Paige nods and does what she is told.

"House hunting leave is something we used to do in the military. Elise sounds like she runs a boot camp up there." Leo says.

"It's not that bad." Phoebe says as she points to the coffee machine behind Leo.

"I'm brewing a fresh batch right now." Leo says.

Piper and Paige walk back into the kitchen.

"You need two weeks to find a house?" Piper asks.

"I think two weeks is plenty of time. I want to go back to work as soon as possible." Phoebe says, "I would've started but I need Coop to help me."

"Understandably." Paige says, "That thought has been on my mind a lot lately."

"Coop has been on your mind?" Piper asks jokingly.

"No…" Paige chuckles, "Going back to work."

"Since when?" Phoebe asks.

"Yeah, since when, Paige?" Henry asks as the toaster oven chimes loudly.

"It's been on my mind since last week especially after Phoebe's 'live your life' speech. I just vocalized it for the first time today." Paige replies nervously.

"Vocalizing it without talking to your husband about it first?" Henry asks.

"Ok, I think that's my cue to start heading out to work." Leo says as he pours coffee into his coffee cup and begins to walk out.

"I didn't think I needed to consult with you about this first." Paige answers.

"Um, I think I'm hungry. Who wants breakfast?" Phoebe says as she chuckles nervously, trying to lessen the tension in the kitchen.

"No need, Phoebe. I'm late for work as it is." Henry says angrily as he takes his bagels, "Leo, can you give me a ride home? We brought Paige's car here."

"Um, sure." Leo says as he walks out and Henry walks out behind him.

"What's his problem?" Paige asks.

"Um, I'm not going to touch that subject." Phoebe says as she pours herself a mug of coffee, "I'll let you guys sort that one out."

"So what are you thinking about doing for work?" Piper asks.

"Piper!" Phoebe shouts shooting Piper a look of disapproval.

"What?!" Piper asks, "Henry's not here so why should we not discuss it? I still want to know."

"Thanks, Piper." Paige says, "I'm thinking about going back to the social work I used to do."

"Really? Why?" Phoebe asks.

"I quit that job to get a handle on my witchcraft and I accomplished that. Besides, I liked being able to help people on a basic human level, to be able to make a difference in someone's life without a magical assist." Paige explains.

"That's not a bad mindset to have." Phoebe concludes.

"Thank you." Paige says.

"So where are you going to start?" Piper asks.

"I'm going to start at my old spot, see if my old boss Mr. Cowan is still working there." Paige replies as she backs out of the kitchen.

"What about Henry?" Piper asks.

"I'll deal with him later. As for now, I have to take the kids to school." Paige says as she turns around and walks out of the kitchen.

"You think it's a good idea?" Piper asks Phoebe as she takes a bite of her bagel.

"Yeah, I mean we're both career women with a family. She can do the same. I'm not worried." Phoebe answers.

"What are you about to do now?" Piper asks.

"Waiting on Coop but until then, nothing." Phoebe says, "What do you have in mind?"

"Laylah is in the attic…" Piper begins to say.

"Speaking of that, when is she going to leave?" Phoebe asks.

"Well, she wants to regain her strength and help us at the same time so I'm in no rush to kick her out." Piper says.

"Why is she in the attic?"

"She says she has an exercise for us." Piper says.

"What kind of exercise?" Phoebe asks as Piper shrugs.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Jake Grisanti lies in his bed, wide awake as the rainy day casts a dark atmosphere in his bedroom. He sits up and looks around at his one bedroom studio apartment. The light fixtures on the walls and ceilings hang loose with visible wiring. His clothes are spread all over the floor. His living room furniture is tossed all over the place.

Jake grabs his head and winces in pain as various visions play rapidly in his head.

 _A vision plays showing Jake walking into the Social Services' bathroom and turns on the faucet. He dips his hands into the water and washes his face. The lights in the bathroom flash and he turns to find Shane standing there._

" _What do you want?" Jake asks._

 _The Source comes out of Shane and possesses Jake. Jake's eyes flame out and turn black._

Jake screams as he falls to his knees.

" _Give into the desire…."_ An ominous voice can be heard whispering, _"Give into the power…"_

"No!" Jake screams as another vision flashes in his mind.

 _Jake sees himself at the South Bay Social Services Office. He stands in the office watching Mr. Cowan and Paige having a discussion in the distance. An evil grin grows on his face as he sees Paige's frustration growing._

" _The power is strong with this one." Jake whispers to himself._

" _What was that?" Carol Grisanti asks._

 _Jake doesn't respond. He walks towards the door and exits the little office with his wife behind him. He marches towards Paige with the purpose of increasing her already agitated state of mind._

" _You got a problem, lady?" Jake asks Paige._

" _Yeah, I do. I got a problem with people who hit their kids." Paige answers defensively._

" _Oh…" Jake laughs._

" _Come on, Jake. Let's just go." Carol says as she grabs Jake in an attempt to diffuse the tension._

" _Wait. Wait…." Jake says as he breaks free from his wife and walks closer to Paige._

" _Listen, I can do whatever the hell I want to…" Jake says and then he lowers his voice as he adds, "and there's nothing you can do to stop me."_

 _An angry Paige gets her purse and turns to leave. Mr. Cowan looks at her departing. Jake smiles and walks away._

Jake grimaces as he begins to shed tears of pain, "Please let it stop!"

 _Another vision flashes into his mind showing him walking into the bathroom at the Social Services Office._

 _He finds an old man bent over Shane's unconscious body._

" _Can you give me a hand?" the old man asks feebly, "I - I - I think that he must have slipped."_

 _Jake's eyes turn into flames and set the old man's body on fire. The old man screams until he disappears from sight._

Jake opens his eyes and his transform into pure black for a brief moment and then return to their normal hazel color. As if he has finally gained a moment of clarity, he stands up and walks to his bathroom. He looks at himself in the mirror and looks closely at his eyes, examining them. His eyes catch the newspaper resting on top of the stack of magazines on the counter. He picks up the newspaper and his eyes widen at the article he's reading.

"Hello, Jake." A man can be heard saying in the distance. Jake spins and braces the bathroom sink for balance as his heart begins to race.

"Who are you?" Jake asks.

"You needn't worry." The man says as he forms an energy ball, "Your pain and worries will die after this moment."

He hurls the energy ball at Jake who ducks and runs out of the bathroom. The demon groans and rolls his eyes at the thought of chasing after the mortal.

"Of course this is never easy." The demon says as he walks into the living room.

With the newspaper in his hand, Jake grabs his car keys and runs out of his apartment. The demon runs after him into the street to find Jake starting his car and driving off in a hurry.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Mellie walks through the corridors of her school and walks to her locker. The PA system turns on as the reading of the morning announcements commence.

"Good morning, students of Ike Elementary. It is a glorious Tuesday morning even though Mother Nature says otherwise. It is the attitude we carry out through the day that defines how our day will turn out." The announcer begins. As his voice fades in the background, Gabby and Penny walk towards Mellie.

"Hey, how are you doing?" Penny asks.

"I've had better days but it could be worse." Mellie says.

"Are you ready for today?" Gabby asks.

"Not really, I just want this to be over with already." Mellie sighs.

"You've got this, Mellie. Don't let your confidence falter. You're doing this for the right reasons unlike Tricia, who is doing this for popularity and out of spite." Penny says.

"Thanks guys." Mellie says as she manages to crack a smile.

"And finally, the student body debate and elections for the 5th grade will take place in the school gymnasium at 12:30 p.m. The candidates running for president are Patricia Halliwell and Melinda Halliwell, also known as Battle of the Halliwells."

The students in the hallway holler and cheer in response.

"Tricia! Tricia! Tricia" the crowd cheers loudly.

"And that concludes the morning announcements…." The announcer adds as he wraps up the announcements, "I hope everyone has a safe and great day!"

"I'm late for class; I'll see you guys later." Mellie says as she grabs her books from her locker and walks away.

"I hate seeing her like this." Penny says.

"I know. Me too." Gabby concurs.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper finally finishes cleaning up after the breakfast spread and walks into the kitchen where Phoebe stood, loading up the dishwasher. Phoebe turns on the machine and turns to Piper.

"Thanks for helping clean up." Piper says.

"You didn't leave me much of a choice, did you?" Phoebe mumbles, "Now let's go see Laylah."

Piper turns around and walks out with her sister right behind her.

"Did Laylah give you any hint of what kind of exercise she was talking about?" Phoebe asks as she walks up the stairs.

"No." Piper says, "She didn't."

"How can we be sure that it isn't like a trap or something?" Phoebe asks as they reach the second floor and walk towards the stairs leading to the attic.

"I think that it will be an issue if we have had her in this house this entire time and the idea of trust hasn't been established yet." Piper says as she begins to climb the stairs to the attic with Phoebe behind her.

"We could be wrong. This wouldn't be the first time we were wrong about trusting someone." Phoebe says as her paranoia increases.

"Phoebe, if she wanted to hurt us, she would've done it a long time ago. The way I see it, we're protecting her from Abaddon so she has no reason to harm us." Piper says.

"Yet…" Phoebe says as they arrive in the attic.

Laylah sits in the middle of a circle of white lit candles. Within the circle are a heap of blankets and pillows for comfort.

"Piper…Phoebe…" Laylah says calmly, "Come and sit."

Phoebe takes a deep breath and stares at Piper. Piper walks into the circle and sits and after a brief hesitation, Phoebe does the same.

"What is this?" Phoebe asks.

"Your first power of three exercise." Laylah says.

"Power of three exercise? Doesn't that mean Paige needs to be here?" Phoebe asks.

"No. This has more to do with you two than it does her." Laylah says.

"Ok. What do you mean? What are we about to do?" Phoebe asks.

"In order for your bond to strengthen, we need to make sure that we are able to move on from the issues that caused you two issues in the past." Laylah says.

"You don't mean…" Piper asks.

"The first exercise is to bring that particular issue to the surface; the day you and your sister had the big argument that caused the severance of the Power of Three and sent Phoebe to Europe." Laylah says.

"How are you going to bring that issue to the surface?" Phoebe asks.

Laylah smiles and waves her hands as a pot filled with liquid materializes before them.

"Oh no…" Phoebe says as she figures out the answer and hangs her head low.

"Vision quest?" Piper asks.

"Vision quest." Laylah responds.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Wyatt, Chris and Dom sit in the auditorium of their high school with the entire student body sitting around them waiting for the presentation to begin.

"Are you nervous?" Dom asks Wyatt.

"Why would I be nervous?" Wyatt asks.

"This weekend is your first game in high school and homecoming is in three weeks." Dom rambles, "That's a lot of pressure for a high school freshman. Do you know who you're going to ask? Don't say Bianca. Please, _please_ don't say Bianca."

"Relax, Dom. I am not thinking about homecoming and the thought hasn't even crossed my mind." Wyatt says, "I'll just worry about the game now and then worry about homecoming later."

"I need to find me a honey to take to the homecoming." Dom says, "Unlike you, some of us struggle with talking to girls, right Chris?"

Chris just looks at Dom and rolls his eyes.

"He agrees with me." Dom whispers to Wyatt, "I'll take that eye roll as a sign of agreement."

Bianca walks up to the boys sitting in the auditorium and works her way through the aisle to get closer.

"Speaking of the devil…" Dom says, "Why is it that every time her name comes up in conversation, she's not that far behind? Do you think she's like a witch or something?"

Wyatt laughs at Dom and shakes his head, "I told you I don't believe in witches. They don't exist."

"Well you say that but my family is from New Orleans and I have secondary accounts that confirm the existence of witchcraft. If you see those voodoo dolls and how scary they are, you'll change your mind." Dom says.

Bianca sits down in the open chair next to Wyatt.

"Hey, Wy. Hey Chris." Bianca greets with a smile. Her smile fades as her eyes meet Dominic's and in a monotone voice, she acknowledges Dom's presence. "Dom…"

"Bianca." Dom shoots back in the same tone.

"So Chris, I hear you're ready to join our club." Bianca says cheerfully.

"A club I am not invited to." Dom interrupts.

"A club you're not invited to with good reason." Bianca says as she flips her hair.

"Yeah, I'm in." Chris says quietly.

"Great. It's going to be so much fun. You won't regret it. There's so much to learn." Bianca says.

"Great." Chris says in a sarcastic tone.

"Ok, so I guess I'll see you guys later today?" Bianca asks.

"Sure." Chris answers.

"Yup." Wyatt adds.

"Can't wait." Bianca says as she stands up and walks away.

"You know it took some convincing but I believe the devil is a woman and she is Bianca in human form." Dom says.

Chris bursts out laughing and Wyatt chuckles. The lights in the auditorium dim as the principal walks on the stage.

"Finally the rally is about to start." Chris exclaims.

"Goood morning, Trojans!" the principal announces, "To begin this pep rally, heeerreeee are your Trojan cheerleaders!"

The audience in the auditorium erupts in cheers as the cheerleaders get in formation.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Paige parks underneath a tree across from the South Bay Social Services office. She steps out of her car, opens her umbrella and looks around. She looks at the building and a smile forms on her lips as the memories of her time spent in that office begins to flood her mind. She takes a deep breath and walks across the parking lot. She enters the building and walks into the elevator.

A brief moment later, she walks onto the floor and a feeling of familiarity crawls over her. She looks around and sees the desk she used to sit and work. She walks towards the receptionist and clears her throat.

"Um, hi." Paige says softly.

"Hi, can I help you?" the receptionist asks politely.

"Hi, I'm Paige Matthews. I'm here for Mr. Bob Cowan." Paige replies.

The receptionist pauses for a quick second. She holds her breath and takes off her glasses.

"I'm sorry…" the receptionist apologizes as she begins to break down.

"I'm sorry. Was it something I said?" Paige asks, confused at the woman's demeanor.

"No, it's not you, Ms. Matthews. Mr. Cowan passed away last Monday. His funeral service is on the last Saturday of the month." The reception says, as she breaks the news gently to Paige.

"Oh, my God." Paige gasps.

The receptionist hands Paige a program of the service.

"You're more than welcome to attend if you'd like." She says with a sniffle as she reaches for a tissue.

"Thank you." Paige says as she turns around to walk away. She walks towards the exit and stops herself. She turns to see the office that had belonged to Mr. Cowan for the past twenty five years. As tears form in her eyes, she wipes them with her sleeve and walks out of the room.

As Paige walks out of the building, Jake runs towards Paige and bumps into her. Paige's purse drops onto the ground and some of the effects fall out as well. Her open umbrella falls onto the ground.

"Dude, watch where you're going!" Paige says as she squats down and picks up her things. She shields herself with her jacket as she picks up the rest of her things. Jake looks at Paige and squints trying to recognize her face. Paige picks up her umbrella and begins to walk away.

"Paige? Paige Matthews?" he calls.

"And who are you?" Paige asks.

"I'm Jake. Jake Grisanti. I'm in need of your help." He pleads.

"I don't know who you are, sorry." Paige says as she begins to cross the parking lot.

"I'm being hunted by demons and I need your help!" Jake screams as Paige halts quickly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Paige says as she continues to walk towards her car, "You've got the wrong person!"

The demon from before appears next to Jake and throws an energy ball. Jake dives out of the way and the energy ball hits Paige's side mirror.

"Son of a…!" Paige screams as she looks in the rear view mirror. She sees Jake on the floor and the demon standing over him. She puts her car in reverse and hits the demon, sending him rolling over her Green Volkswagen and onto the floor. Paige opens the door and gestures to Jake.

"Get in!" Paige yells.

Without hesitation, a soaking wet Jake jumps into the car and Paige drives out of the parking lot. The demon stands up and watches Paige drive away.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In the attic, Piper looks at Phoebe and then at Laylah.

"I don't know if I want to go on this vision quest." Piper says.

"Why not? You're the one who wanted us to do this and all of a sudden you don't want to do this anymore?" Phoebe questions.

"Every time we go on a vision quest, something bad happens while we're off in the dream land." Piper says, "What if we get attacked by a demon while we're gone?"

"Piper, how often do we get attacked nowadays?" Phoebe asks.

"Rarely until now." Piper answers.

"This quest is essential to your path to reconnecting with your destiny." Laylah says.

"See, I thought our destiny was fulfilled when we vanquished the Source." Piper says.

"He was the first obstacle but he's not the evil whose vanquish fulfills your destiny." Laylah says.

"Don't tell me we're supposed to vanquish Abaddon, even though he's a god?" Phoebe says.

"I'm not telling you anything. I'm just trying to help you get where you need to be in order to become the Charmed Ones you are meant to be." Laylah says.

"Which begins with this vision quest?" Piper adds.

"Exactly." Laylah nods as she scoops a swig from the pot with a cup and hands it to Piper, "What you learn in this vision quest will answer a lot of lingering questions and help you with the next demonic problem coming your way."

"See? I was right. There _is_ a demon we're going to have to deal with." Piper yells.

"Piper, we have to do this or don't do it at all." Phoebe says calmly.

Piper takes a deep breath and looks at her sister.

"Fine. I'll drink the damned thing." Piper says as she takes the cup, "If we die, I'm blaming you, Phoebe."

Phoebe laughs as she takes another cup from Laylah as she looks at her sister.

"To the power of three?" Phoebe asks.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Piper says as they clink their cups and drink.

"Ugh!" Piper groans.

"I forgot this drink tastes like as…" she begins to say but she sees Laylah's disapproved look, "Asphalt? Yeah, let's go with asphalt."

"Now lie back and let the potion do its job." Laylah instructs.

Piper and Phoebe lie down next to each other and close their eyes.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _Halliwell Manor, 2011_

Phoebe wakes up in the Manor, lying on the couch. She sits up quickly and looks around her. Everything looks the same, nothing is out of place. She takes a huge sigh of relief and runs her hand through her hair only to feel the difference. Her short bob cut is no longer short. She stands up and runs to the mirror in the foyer to find herself looking a few years younger, with her hair flowing past her shoulders and with the ends resting in the middle of her back. Her hair was darker than her color she had in the present.

She takes a second look around and realizes the subtle differences she missed before. She sees a bunch of children's toys and books on the table and in a corner, stacked neatly on a shelf. She chuckles to herself as she remembered the day she had Leo build that shelf for their children.

" _What better way to teach the kids about neatness and organization than to have them stack their toys on this shelf after they're done playing?_ " Phoebe can hear Piper's voice say.

"Piper…" Phoebe whispers with a smile, "Piper?!"

Phoebe looks around, finally realizing where she is. She runs into the kitchen to find it empty. She runs up the stairs and after a moment, reaches the attic.

"Piper?"

Phoebe finds Piper lying down on the couch in the attic with the Book of Shadows left wide open on the table next to her. Phoebe walks to her sister and sits down next to her. She tries to gently shake her awake.

"Piper. Wake up." Phoebe says.

"Leave me alone. I can't have a moment of peace in this house." Piper mumbles as she swats Phoebe's hands away.

"Come on, Piper. Wake up!" Phoebe raises her voice slightly.

Piper opens her eyes and stares at Phoebe.

"Where am I?" Piper asks.

"Attic. If I had to guess, 6 years ago?" Phoebe says.

"Seriously?" Piper looks around.

"Yup."

"What do we do now?" Piper asks.

"Do what we're supposed to do in a vision quest; follow the events exactly how it happened just so we can understand it better." Phoebe answers.

"Are you ready to do it all over again?" Piper asks.

"Do we have a choice?" Phoebe answers.

"Where's Paige?" Piper asks.

As if on cue, Paige orbs into the attic and marches to the podium. She has her long dark locks as opposed to the short buzzed haircut she has in the present. She looks at the Book lying in front of Piper and orbs it to herself.

"What's uh, what's going on, Paige?" Piper asks as she scratches her chin.

"The demon that's after Tracy was not a demon. It was a darklighter." Paige says.

"How do you know that?" Phoebe asks.

"I just fought her and she ran." Paige answers as she begins to flip through the Book.

"You _fought_ a darklighter?" Piper asks as she stands up, "Are you out of your mind?! What if she shot you with an arrow?"

"I didn't know she was a darklighter at the time until I faced her. She caught me off guard when I was in Tracy's apartment."

"Okay, sorry to press you so hard." Piper backs off.

"So where's Tracy?" Phoebe asks.

"I healed her. She's resting downstairs with Billie watching her." Paige answers.

"What's the next step in the plan?" Piper asks.

"I thought you were doing research here?" Paige asks.

"Well, the research doesn't matter now since the demon is not really a demon now. She's a darklighter." Phoebe answers as she chuckles nervously, "Right?"

"Right. I don't think she's your average darklighter." Paige deduces.

"How do you figure?" Phoebe asks.

"She doesn't attack with a crossbow. She shoots black orbs from her hands." Paige answers, "And her previous victims were driven to commit acts of self-destruction ending in their deaths."

"Does that sound familiar to you?" Phoebe mumbles to Piper.

"Yeah…" Piper answers as she walks to the Book with Phoebe. She flips through the pages until she lands on the page labeled as " _Spirit Classification_ ".

"This darklighter falls under ' _Spirit Extractor'_ " Piper points out and continues to read.

" _Demons who rip souls from human victims, rending victims suggestible to demon's will."_

"How do you know about this?" Paige asks.

"We faced their kind a while ago." Phoebe answers as Piper walks over to the couch to sit, "He targeted Prue and almost drove her to suicide."

"Oh my God." Paige whispers as she looks at Piper, "I'm sorry."

"It's ok. You didn't know." Piper responds.

"And I know you didn't want to fight any demons today of all days, so I am grateful you joined me to help take this darklighter out."

"Today of all days? What do you mean?" Piper asks.

"Today? You know, May 17th 2011?" Paige says.

"Oh my God." Phoebe gasps.

"Today marks ten years since Prue's death." Piper whispers.

"Yeah." Paige says as she grabs Piper's hand for comfort.

Piper looks at Phoebe and then back at Paige.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Billie paces back and forth in the brightly lit conservatory room. The room looks brighter than it actually is due to the darkness of the night sky in the background of the windows. Billie walks over to a young brunette lying down on the couch unconsciously. As Billie watches her sleep peacefully, dark orbs form in the distance behind her and another woman materializes.

"She's adorable when she sleeps, isn't she?" the darklighter says in a taunting voice.

Billie jumps up and smiles.

"I knew it would be a matter of time before you showed back up again." Billie says as she changes into a defensive stance.

The darklighter looks at Tracy and then back at Billie.

"You will not take her. I won't let you. Not while I'm still here." Billie says.

"Well, I can quickly take care of that." The darklighter says as she forms a dark orb-like energy ball.

"I haven't lost a soul yet and I'm not going to start now; especially by the likes of you and your kind." The darklighter says as she hurls her dark orb at Billie. Billie deflects the dark orb back at the darklighter and she catches it in her palm. The orb sizzles and disappears as a smile grows on her face.

"This is going to be fun." The darklighter chuckles.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper, Phoebe and Paige stand by the Book reading about the classification of Spirits.

"Do you think the darklighter knows who you are?" Phoebe asks.

"I don't think so but if she's tracking Tracy, it would not be long before she finds us. I'm going place the crystals around the house for protection, just in case." Paige answers.

"Let's get right on it. I'll grab the crystals." Phoebe says as she begins to walk away but a loud crash can be heard downstairs.

"What was that?" Piper asks as her eyes squint suspiciously.

"Billie…" Phoebe says as she runs out of the attic with her sisters hot on her trail.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Billie performs a back flip as another dark ball narrowly misses her, shattering the grandfather's clock instead. Billie waves her hand and sends the darklighter flying into the wall behind her. The darklighter rises up quickly and creates a dark rope with a wave of a hand. She whips it towards Billie and ties Billie's arms to her body.

"Let's see you use your power now." The darklighter says accompanied by an evil laugh.

As Billie struggles to break free, Tracy slowly begins to gain consciousness. As her eyes begin to flutter open, she hears the struggle noises and the nefarious laughter in the distance. She sits up and sees Billie tied up with the dark orbed rope, with the darklighter roping Billie towards her.

Scared, Tracy jumps up and backs away slowly towards the front door of the Manor. Billie sees Tracy in her peripheral and calls to her.

"Tracy, run upstairs now!" Billie says with a strain in her voice.

Terrified, Tracy opens and runs out of the Manor into the dark night.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige run downstairs and see Billie and the darklighter engaged in a battle.

"Hey!" Piper yells as she thrusts her hands forth and blasts the darklighter backwards. She flies into the furniture and the rope tied around Billie disappears.

"I miss having this power!" Piper mumbles to herself.

"Thank you!" Billie says as she breathes a sigh of relief.

"Don't mention it." Piper replies.

Phoebe walks up to the darklighter as the darklighter stands up and kicks her into the wall. Phoebe then presses her foot on the darklighter's neck, pinning the darklighter to the wall.

"Piper, freeze her." Phoebe yells to her sister. Tires screech and a loud bang is heard outside, leading Billie to run out of the Manor.

"No need. I'll be back for what I came for." The darklighter says as she orbs out.

"Damn it!" Phoebe curses as she walks to her sisters.

"Uh, guys? Where's Tracy?" Paige asks as she looks around.

"Where did Billie go?" Phoebe wonders as she walks towards the front door of the Manor. Seeing the door wide open, Phoebe walks out of the Manor with her sisters behind her. They walk down the stairs in the middle of the night and see a crowd gathered in the middle of the street. They walk closer and find Billie in the crowd.

"What happened?" Piper asks.

"Tracy…" Billie replies.

Tracy lies in the middle of the street, suffering from injuries sustained from being hit by the car that shone its headlights brightly towards her body and the crowd in front of her. The hood of the tan Ford Taurus was dented and the windshield cracked with spots of blood trickling down from the crack.

A siren can be heard in the distance as the flashing red lights illuminate the neighborhood in the pitch darkness. The EMTs jump out of the ambulance and begin to tend to Tracy.

"Oh my God." Phoebe gasps as she covers her mouth with her hand in shock.

"What do we do?" Billie asks.

"I'll follow the ambulance and make sure the darklighter doesn't come for her. Phoebe, you come with me. Paige and Billie, search the Book for a vanquish or something. When you find a solution, meet us in the hospital." Piper commands.

"Ok." Paige nods as she looks at Billie and walks away from the scene.

"Come on, we'll take my car." Piper says as she walks away with Phoebe.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _San Francisco, 2017_

Leo and Henry drive through the flooded city of San Francisco with extreme difficulty due to the heavy outpour of rain. The rush hour has slowed down the morning commute as the rain lashed down on Leo's mighty SUV; torrential and unforgiving. The frequent thunderous booms were mixed with the chaotic sounds of the city, accompanied by the honking of the car horns signaling their impatience and anger through the air.

"Well, I'm not going to make to work on time today…." Henry says, embittered, "…again."

"Just call in and tell them that let them know the situation. With the weather like this, they should understand." Leo says.

Henry doesn't acknowledge Leo's comment and sighs heavily.

"This is what I need today. This whole day is going to crap!"

"This whole day? But the day just began. It's not even 9:00 yet." Leo says, looking at his watch.

"I don't expect you to understand." Henry says as he stares out the blurry window.

"Ahh, so I take it this has to do with what Paige said this morning." Leo deduces.

"Give the man a prize! He's finally figured it out!" Henry says sarcastically.

Leo laughs, "Talk to me, Henry. What did she say that has you so triggered?"

Henry begins to speak but he hesitates.

"Come on, you can trust me." Leo says, "I made you my daughter's godfather for a reason, Henry."

Henry sighs and then runs his fingers through his hair.

"It's nothing I guess. I'm just mad that she didn't talk to me about it before." Henry sighs, "Maybe I overreacted."

"Just a little…" Leo says.

"It's just that…" Henry begins to say but he bites his tongue, "Never mind."

"What you need is a day off. When was the last time you had one?" Leo asks.

"I don't remember." Henry answers.

"Call out of work and let's just hang out like the old days." Leo suggests, "We're closer to the club than we are to your house."

"Old days mean Victor, Coop and Darryl must be there too." Henry says with a smile.

"I'll make phone calls." Leo says excitedly as he drives out of the long line of cars, makes a U-turn and drives away.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Melinda walks into the cafeteria, wearing a sullen look that did not suit her personality. Everywhere she looked, a picture of Tricia bearing a smile stared back at her. To everyone else, the pictures were just innocent, but to Mellie, the pictures were mocking her. Mellie sees Chris sitting at their table, waiting for her with a box of pizza. After a few more steps, Mellie arrives at the table and sits down.

"Finally, Mel!" Chris says as he opens the box of pizza and takes out a slice, "I've been waiting for you and I'm starving!"

Mellie looks at her brother and folds her arms.

"Take a slice! I didn't buy this just for me to eat it all. Come on!" Chris says with his mouth full.

Mellie tucks her blondish brown hair behind her ears and looks down. Chris finally looks at his sister for the first time since she sat at the table and sees the troubled look she wore.

"Hey. What's wrong?" Chris asks, "Does this have to do with the election?"

"I don't know what to do anymore." Mellie finally speaks, "It's like I already know I've lost and this afternoon is the final nail in my coffin for confirmation."

"Hey, hey! Don't say that." Chris says as he reaches for his sister's hand but she pulls back.

"You don't understand. I don't expect you to understand." Mellie groans.

Chris watches as tears begin to well up in his sister's eyes. Chris drops the pizza in the box and scoots closer to Mellie.

"I don't understand?" Chris asks, "Please explain because I'm lost."

"Do you have any idea how it feels like to grow up in your shadow? Setting all these milestones that mom and dad expect me to exceed or at least follow? It's annoying. You and Wyatt have everything come to you easily. I have to work twice as hard to be half as good as you both."

"Wow." Chris sighs in disbelief, "You can't be serious."

Mellie shrugs carelessly.

"First of all, you don't get to do that. Not you of all people. I can tell you stories about how it feels to grow up in Wyatt's gigantic shadow but we do not have the time for that. Wyatt's not normal. Being Wyatt's brother hasn't made life easy for me but I do not let that define me. I worked hard to make sure my lane was different from his. I expected you to do the same." Chris explains.

"How?" Mellie asks.

"I remember one summer when you were five or six; we were at the city pool. Wyatt and I were swimming in the big pool and you were in the kiddie pool. You wanted to join us but mom told you no because you didn't know how to swim properly. Do you remember?"

"No." Mellie answers.

"Wyatt and I went to the pool once or twice a week but you forced me to bring you to the pool every day so you can learn how to swim. Every day, I watched you jump into the big pool and try to swim from the shallow end to the deep end." Chris says with a smile, "Every time you began to struggle, you'd swim back to the shallow end and wait for a few minutes and then try again."

"Really?" Mellie asks in a surprised tone.

"Yeah." Chris whispers, "You did that for a whole week straight and mom brought us to the pool that weekend, you ran and jumped into the pool and swam back and forth from the deep end to the shallow end and back again, just to prove mom wrong. You're now a better swimmer than Wyatt and I."

"Wow."

"Don't you see?" Chris says as he grabs his sister's hand, "You have always found a way to make things work for you even when the odds were stacked against you. You have always been resilient. That is the Melinda I know. Not this girl who is intimidated and quits because the odds were not in your favor. So what if Tricia has majority of the class in her pocket? It's not over until the last vote is cast."

Mellie's frown changes into a hopeful smile.

"You're right." Mellie says as she begins to cheer up, "Thanks, Chris."

"I know I'm right. I'm the smart one, remember?" Chris jokes as Mellie laughs.

"Now, I'll be really mad if you don't join me and eat this pizza before it gets cold." Chris says.

"Wyatt likes cold pizza. He says it's better than burning hot pizza." Mellie says as she grabs herself a slice.

"Didn't you hear me say that Wyatt wasn't normal?" Chris laughs.

Mellie takes a bite of her pizza and the two siblings continue their conversation as the camera pans away from them.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The front door of the Halliwell Manor swings open and a drenched Jake and Paige walk through. Paige hangs her coat and umbrella on the coat rack as she twists and squeezes water from her shirt.

Paige marches towards the bannister with Jake following her when she pauses and turns around.

"Wait down here. I have to go upstairs to check for my sisters." Paige tells him.

"What if the demon attacks me while you're upstairs?" Jake asks, shivering where he stands.

"Just call my name out loud; I'll be down here in a jiff. Okay?" Paige says quickly, with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"I don't feel safe if you're not around." Jake pleads, "I'll be a shadow behind you. I won't make a sound. I promise."

Paige closes her eyes and takes a deep breath and exhales slowly before opening her eyes again.

"Fine." Paige says with restraint, "Not a single word."

"Scout's honor." Jake says as he holds up his palm.

"Ugh…" Paige rolls her eyes as she begins to walk up the stairs with Jake right behind her.

A brief moment later, Paige walks into the attic to find Phoebe and Piper lying in a circle of lit candles and Laylah sitting next to them.

"What is this? What the hell is going on?" Paige asks with her voice tinged with worry, confusion and anger.

"They're on a vision quest." Laylah answers coolly.

"On a what?!" Paige asks sternly, trying to understand if what she heard was correct.

"It's the first step into healing the circle that is the Power of Three." Laylah says as she looks down at Piper and Phoebe.

"Then why wasn't I included?" Paige asks.

"The fight that happened between them had nothing to do with you, or am I wrong?" Laylah asks.

"You're right but we have a problem right now and I need them back." Paige says as she marches to the Book.

"I can't bring them until they reach the climax of their conflict." Laylah says.

"That's crap." Paige says, "You're the goddess of magic. You can do anything."

"Even I am limited with my ability to do things, especially now that my powers are not at full force." Laylah says.

"Please try to bring them back soon." Paige says, "We have a demonic issue and just in case we need the Power of Three, we need to be on the ready."

Laylah takes a deep breath and looks down at Piper and Phoebe.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _San Francisco, 2011_

Piper Halliwell sits down in a hospital room, staring at an unconscious and bandaged Tracy as the ICU monitor beeps in the background. Her mind wanders as she begins to daydream.

" _I can't believe Prue died ten years ago today…"_ Piper thinks. She takes out her phone and immediately begins to scroll through the pictures until she finds one with herself, Prue and Phoebe laughing uncontrollably on the grass of the Manor holding a garden hose.

 _It was an Indian summer type of day in the city and the air conditioner broke down in the house. Phoebe wanted to go the beach to get her mind off Cole because he was on the run from the Source, to which Piper and Prue objected. Piper wanted to go to the pool instead but Prue was against the idea of driving to go anywhere and Leo agreed. Prue decided to just risk it and have a water balloon fight in the house. Piper was against it but due to Prue's implemented 'majority rules' democracy, she lost that vote to Phoebe and Leo._

 _Armed with a garden hose and many water balloons, Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Leo held a game of 'Capture the Flag', with the team winning two out of the three games being declared the winner. Piper and Phoebe were on one team, Prue and Leo were on the other._

 _Phoebe and Piper won the games but Prue and Leo accused them of cheating and demanded a rematch. Refusing to comply, Prue used her telekinesis to spray them all the hose and the new plan was to get the hose away from Prue._

 _As Piper and Phoebe wrestled the hose away from Prue, Leo ran inside the Manor and ran back out with Prue's camera in hand. With a flash from the camera, Leo captured a candid moment which at the time did not mean a thing, but now was priceless and gave Piper the opportunity to revisit that day in her mind._

Piper smiles to herself as a tear slowly trickles from her eyes and she wipes them off her face with her sleeve. Phoebe walks into the hospital room carrying two cups of coffee.

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asks as she hands one of the cups to Piper

"Yeah." Piper says as she takes the cup and takes a sip.

"I know today is hard for you…." Phoebe says but Piper cuts her off.

"Why do you do that?" Piper asks softly.

"Do what?" Phoebe shoots back.

" _Hard for me?_ Hard for us, Phoebe. You lost Prue too." Piper says, getting frustrated for having to say those words.

"You know what? This is not the time and place to discuss this." Phoebe says as she takes a sip of her coffee as she looks at Tracy.

Piper clears her throat and looks out of the open hospital window. The doctor walks into the hospital room and Piper and Phoebe stand up.

"Hey, doc." Phoebe greets.

"I'm just here to check on our patient. Just to see if there are any changes in her condition." The doctor says as he picks up Tracy's chart. After reading for a couple of minutes, he turns to Piper and Phoebe.

"Will she be okay?" Phoebe asks.

"She has a concussion and popped her knee and hip out of place but our orthodontist already took care of that. She is very lucky. She just needs some rest and she'll be fine." The doctor informs.

"Thanks, doc." Piper smiles as she sits back down.

Phoebe watches the doctor leave and then turns to Piper.

"I'm just going to step out and give Paige a call and update her on Tracy's condition." Phoebe says awkwardly as Piper continues to look out the window, without acknowledging her sister.

"Right…" Phoebe sighs as she turns around and walks away.

Piper turns to see Phoebe walking away and rolls her eyes. Her mind begins to wander again, daydreaming about days with Prue she took for granted.

" _Piper…"_

Piper closes her eyes and smiles, trying to make her mind drift further into the dream she wished was a reality.

" _Piper…"_ the voice is heard calling again.

Still in a trance, Piper's mind replays the time a motorcycle crashed through the doors of the Manor and Prue's astral self jumped on the back seat and sped out of there, causing the glasses and the cake to crumble and crash onto the floor. Piper recalled how mad she was that day but flashing forward ten years later, it's a memory that made her chuckle because Prue was relieved of her duties of being her sisters' guardian and protector.

" _Piper…"_ the voice calls again, piercing Piper's haze. Piper's eyes open, and they find Tracy still laying in her hospital bed, unconscious.

She begins to scan the room when the voice can be heard calling out to her again.

" _Piper…"_

Piper stands up and begins to walk towards the exit.

" _Piper…"_

"Who is it?!" Piper yells, looking around for the source, "Phoebe?!"

" _Piper…"_

Piper walks out of the hospital room, walks down the hallway, turns a corner and looks around once more. Piper sees the two receptionists sitting across from the room, staring at her. Piper waves her hand and freezes the entire floor out of frustration. Hoping the voices will stop; Piper turns around and begins to walk back to Tracy's room when a white light appears in front of her.

The white light materializes and turns into a woman with long dark hair and porcelain skin. She wore a long gossamer white gown. The light reflected her light blue eyes with a familiar tiny black mole sitting a few inches to the right side of her nose.

Piper's eyes widen in shock as she walks closer to the figure standing before her.

"Prue?" Piper whispers.

Prue nods with a tearful smile.

TO BE CONTINUED


	11. 10x06: The Dark Lighter Rises (2)

_Author's Note: A huge shoutout to Chrisdeeksspike, Lettykoalamelomane, Amethyst80, Nomechan and Blinkybill05 for the follows and favs this week. Hope you're enjoying the story so far._

 _To Anthony and AwesomeAquarious, you guys are awesome as well and thanks for this week's reviews. Any review, be it negative or positive are always welcomed._ _Please continue to read and review. Once again, I appreciate the love._

 _-KingKenfordIV_

* * *

 **10x06: The Dark Lighter Rises (Part 2)**

With Piper a few feet away, the darklighter orbs into the hospital room standing over Tracy. Dark orbs begin to surround her hands as she places her right hand on Tracy's forehead and places the left on her chest, over her heart.

Tracy's eyes open instantly as she releases a painful gasp.

"Shhh." The darklighter whispers in an attempt to comfort her, "It will be all over soon."

Paralyzed in bed, a tear streaks from Tracy's eye and falls to her as a white orb rises from her body. The orb materializes into a transparent version of Tracy looking down at her physical body. The darklighter thrusts her fist into the soul and absorbs it. She breathes a sigh of satisfaction as she conjures a clone of herself. The clone looks at Tracy's body and with a smile, jumps back into her newfound home.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"The doctor says it's just minor injuries so she'll be fine. She just needs rest." Phoebe says on the phone as she walks towards Tracy's room.

"Ok, great. We're trying to find out a way to vanquish her but there's no known vanquish in the Book." Paige says as she flips through the Book with one hand.

"We've vanquished darklighters with potions before." Phoebe reminds her as she leans on the counter.

"Yeah with their blood, and those were darklighters for hire. This one is not the average darklighter and we do not have their blood to use for the vanquishing potion." Paige explains.

"Damn it…" Phoebe whispers as she rubs her forehead. She looks up and realizes the entire hospital floor is frozen, "Wait a minute…"

"What is it?" Paige asks.

"Everyone on this floor is frozen." Phoebe says suspiciously. She begins to walk towards Tracy's room in a brisk pace. She sees the darklighter standing over Tracy in her room.

"Paige, get here now!" Phoebe says as she hangs up the phone and races to the room.

"Tracy?!" Phoebe yells as she gets closer.

The darklighter sees Phoebe and telekinetically shuts the door. Phoebe reaches the door and begins to bang on it and turns the handle.

"Piper?! Tracy?" Phoebe screams as she continues to bang on the door.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper remains speechless staring at the woman standing before her, blinking and rubbing her eyes rapidly trying to make sense of the situation.

"How?" Piper asks.

"Save me…" Prue whispers.

"Save you? From who? How? Please tell me." Piper pleads desperately.

"Piper?!" Phoebe's voice can be heard yelling in the distance catching Piper's attention, "Tracy!"

Piper looks back for a quick second and turns back to see Prue's image is no longer standing before her.

"Prue?!" Piper calls out to her but receives no answer. Disappointed, she turns around and runs back towards Tracy's room.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The darklighter watches as Tracy's possessed body sits up in the bed.

"I would really want to have fun with you but you've caused me so much grief and trouble…" the darklighter says.

With the rapid hollow echo of knuckles and fists rapping on the wooden door, the darklighter looks at the open hospital window and then back at Tracy.

"It looks like there's only one way out of here now…" she says with a smirk. Tracy rises and walks towards the ledge of the hospital window. The darklighter waves her hand and the barrier blocking the window orbs away from sight. Tracy walks out and stands on the ledge. She looks back and the darklighter gives her an approving nod and orbs out.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper runs around the corner and speeds to the closed door to Tracy's room.

"What happened?" Piper asks, out of breath.

"The darklighter's in there." Phoebe replies as she continues to pound on the door.

"Step back." Piper warns as she focuses her concentration on the door. Phoebe does what she is told. Piper thrusts her hands and blasts the door into little pieces of debris.

The sisters walk into the room and see an empty hospital bed.

"Do you think the darklighter took her?" Phoebe asks looking around.

"Oh my God!" Piper screams as she walks to the window.

Tracy closes her eyes and leaps from the window.

Paige orbs into the patient's room and runs to her sisters.

"What happened? Where is she?" Paige asks.

"She just jumped. Orb to the alley now!" Phoebe commands. Paige nods and orbs out of the hospital room. Phoebe and Piper run out of the room and head towards the exit.

Out of breath, Piper and Phoebe arrive in the back alley and see Paige standing by with tears in her eyes. Piper and Phoebe's eyes fall on the car Paige is staring at and see Tracy's broken body laying on top of it, with her eyes open, completely drained of life.

"I was too late." Paige says, choking back her tears.

"Damn it!" Piper yells as Phoebe folds her hands and places them on her head.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

With the night's sky filled with flashes of red, white and blue lights, the police officers rope off the alley with their caution yellow tape. The EMT zips up Tracy's body in the black body bag and lifts her on to a gurney.

Piper and Paige stand behind the caution tape line as Phoebe talks to Darryl in the distance. Darryl and Phoebe approach the sisters and Darryl looks at Paige.

"Are you okay?" Darryl asks.

Paige's face, wet with tears nods her response.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that." Darryl says as he places his hand on her shoulder.

"We got this, Darryl." Phoebe says softly, "Thank you."

"Call me if you guys need anything." Darryl says as he walks away.

Phoebe turns to her sisters.

"What now?" Piper asks.

"What now?!" Phoebe asks, as her anger begins to rise, "Where the hell were you? You were supposed to keep your eye on her."

"Wait, so this is my fault?!" Piper asks.

"I don't know. Depends on the answer to my question." Phoebe says as she folds her arms, "Where were you, Piper? Why did you leave Tracy's side?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Piper mutters.

"Try me." Phoebe says.

"The reason why I left was because Prue came to me." Piper says quietly.

Paige leers at Piper with disbelief and Phoebe squints her eyes in an effort to understand the words coming out of Piper's mouth.

"I'm…I'm sorry. Can you say that one more time?" Phoebe stutters, "I don't think I heard you properly."

"You heard me. Prue came to me and she wanted me to save her." Piper repeats.

"Prue." Phoebe repeats emphatically.

"Yeah." Piper answers.

Phoebe breaks out into an uncontrollable laughter as she walks away from Piper. She runs her fingers through her long hair and then turns back around to face Piper.

"I don't believe this."

"You may not believe it but it is true." Piper reaffirms, "Prue came to me."

"You cannot be serious. I have tried to be understanding but this is going too far, Piper. You have lost your damn mind!" Phoebe screeches.

"Phoebe…" Paige tries to interject but Phoebe cuts her off.

"No, Paige. Not this time."

"I don't have to take this. I'm out of here." Piper says as she begins to walk away.

"Piper!" Paige calls out to her but Piper doesn't budge. Paige turns to Phoebe and gives her an ugly glance.

"Don't look at me like that. Piper's the one that's off her rocker." Phoebe scoffs.

"Prue died ten years ago today. Cut her some slack." Paige says calmly.

"That is not an excuse, Paige. Look what happened!" Phoebe says.

"Phoebe…" Paige says trying to calm her sister down.

"Fine…" Phoebe says, "Let's go back to the Manor and finish this but she's not off the hook."

"I'll take that." Paige says.

Phoebe runs her fingers through her hair and ties it into a ponytail. Paige gives phoebe a puzzling look.

"What? That has been bothering me all day." Phoebe complains as Paige rolls her eyes at her sister.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _San Francisco, 2017_

Chris walks back into the cafeteria of his high school after having lunch with his sister. He burped loudly and smacked his lips as the taste of pepperoni pizza revisited his tongue, even though it was brief. He sees his brother and Dom sitting at their usual spot and after a brief hesitation, he walks over and joins them without saying a word. He takes out his phone and begins to play a game.

"The cheerleaders were all over you, bro." Dom says to Wyatt, "You are a god over here and you haven't even played your first game yet."

"You're over exaggerating, Dom. Like you always do." Wyatt says, casually dismissing Dom's sentiment.

A group of cheerleaders in their outfits walk right by Wyatt and pause. With a smile and in union, they wave and finally say, "Hi, Wyatt."

Wyatt flashes a smile and waves at them in return. The girls giggle and walk away. Chris rolls his eyes at what he's just witnessed.

"Over exaggerating?" Dom asks with a smile, "Yeah, right."

"So Chris, where have you been?" Wyatt asks his brother in an effort to take the attention away from himself.

"Lunch date." Chris answers without taking his eyes off his screen.

"Who have you been seeing?" Dom asks.

"Don't feel like talking about it." Chris answers.

"Ok, so are you ready for what's going on after school? You know, with Bianca?" Wyatt asks.

"Sure…" Chris says, without feeling.

"You know if you want to do this with us, you have to care, Chris." Wyatt says, "This is very important."

"You do not want to talk to me about what is important, Wyatt." Chris says in a monotone voice.

"Yeah, because you have better things to do with your time than to spend time with your own brother." Wyatt says with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Seriously?" Chris says as he finally puts his phone down and looks at Wyatt.

"Uh oh…" Dom mumbles under his breath.

"Yeah, I'm serious." Wyatt says defensively.

"You have been so busy lately that you barely have time for us. Either you're spending time at school practicing, spending time with your friends or spending time with Bianca."

"Us?" Wyatt questions.

"Yeah, us! Me and Mel! _Us_." Chris retorts.

"You guys don't say anything to me for me to know what's going on." Wyatt says as he raises his voice.

"Of course…" Chris laughs, "Because it's Wyatt's world and we're all just living in it, right?"

"Now, you're pushing it." Wyatt says in a low tone.

"Do you know where I go every day for lunch, huh?" Chris asks, "I walk across the street to Mellie's school to eat lunch with her. Every freaking day! You know why? Because she feels lonely because her brothers, the ones who swore to protect her are no longer by her side."

"Well…" Wyatt begins to say but Chris cuts her off.

"Did you know that she is running for president of her class?" Chris asks.

"Yeah, I did. I heard her talking about it to mom." Wyatt answers.

"Ok, did you know that Tricia is her opponent and Tricia has the whole school eating at the palm of her hands now? Mellie is sad and it is slowly eating away at her confidence." Chris says furiously, "Her debate and election is in an hour and a half and I've never seen her so defeated."

"I had no idea." Wyatt sighs.

"With all the cheerleaders that wave their pom-poms in your face, your baby sister is your number 1 cheerleader. The girl shows up to all your practices every single time and you don't take the time out of your day to see how she's doing. But excuse me; I don't know where my priorities lie because my friends and Bianca's training come first." Chris says sharply as he stands up.

"Where are you going?" Dom asks.

"I don't deserve to be in his royal highness' presence." Chris says sarcastically as he storms out of the cafeteria, leaving Wyatt speechless.

Wyatt watches his brother walk away and looks at Dom, who shrugs at Wyatt.

"Don't look at me. You asked for it." Dom says as he takes a sip of his chocolate milk.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Music blasting out loud, Leo walks out of the back with a case of beer and sets it on the bar. Henry sits on the barstool on the opposite side of the bar, texting on his phone.

"Did you get in touch with any of them?" Leo asks as he begins to load the beer into a cooler filled with ice.

"Darryl couldn't break free from work and Victor apparently has a new girlfriend he has been spending most of his time with. I think it's just us." Henry says.

"No, you didn't try Coop." Leo says, as he takes a cold brew and hand it to Henry.

"I tried his cell phone and it went straight to voicemail." Henry says.

"Hmmm." Leo says as he begins to ponder.

"Coop!" Leo screams at the top of his lungs, causing Henry to cringe.

"What the hell, Leo?!" Henry asks, slightly irritated.

"Wait for it…" Leo says as he pauses for a moment.

In an instant, a pink light appears in the center of the dance floor with a heart shaped glow and Coop appears.

"What's going on?" Coop asks in confusion as he walks closer to his brothers in law.

Leo hands him a cold beer without speaking.

"Uh, no." Coop says, "Phoebe and I are supposed to go house hunting later on today."

"You can have one beer, Coop. It's not going to kill you." Henry teases.

"You know you want to." Leo says in an effort to bait him.

Coop stares at the bottle and then at Leo and Henry. Fighting temptation, Coop gives up and snatches the beer from Leo's hand as the men cheer out loud.

Leo turns up the music and takes a beer for himself. He leans his beer closer and the three men clink their beers together and take a gulp.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Paige reads the Book of Shadows and slams it furiously. Jake sits on the couch watching Paige pace back and forth

"There's nothing in the Book about the demon." Paige says sharply.

"Is there anything else we can do?" Jake asks.

"There's nothing we can do if we do not know what we're up against." Paige says, "Did he say anything to you that stood out by any chance?"

"No. Nothing." Jake says.

"Do you think he's going to go after your family to try to get to you?" Paige asks.

"My family?" Jake asks, confused.

"Yeah. I remember you had a wife and son last time I saw you."

"My ex-wife passed a few years ago." Jake confesses, "My son works as an ADA in Oakland."

"Hmmm. Ok." Paige says as she directs her attention to Laylah, "Any luck?"

"None. I have tried everything. They have to come back on their own." Laylah says.

"Damn it!" Paige curses as her eys fall upon her sisters' unconscious bodies laying before her.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _San Francisco, 2011_

Piper's Grand Jeep Cherokee pulls into the driveway and the sisters step out.

"That was the most awkward car ride I have ever been in." Paige says as she slams the door shut.

"It didn't have to be if Phoebe wasn't so damn stubborn." Piper says as she marches towards the stairs leading to the front door.

"Stubborn?" Phoebe asks with a questionable laugh, "What you said back there sounded ridiculous as hell."

"After fighting demons for almost over ten years and this sounds ridiculous to you?" Piper asks as she runs up the stairs with her sisters behind her.

"Yes!"

"Prue came to me tonight. She asked me to save her and that's what I'm going to do. I'm not going to let anyone stand in my way." Piper swears.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing."

"Believe me if you want or not, I don't really care at this point." Piper says as she opens the front door and walks in. Phoebe runs in after her and Paige walks in and slams the door shut behind her.

"Piper, listen to me!" Phoebe says, as she chases her sister.

Piper storms into the foyer and takes off her jacket angrily.

"Don't talk to me, Phoebe. You're not making sense and I'm not trying to hear it." Piper says.

"I'm not making sense? Do you hear yourself?" Phoebe says.

"Piper…" Paige begins to say but Piper cuts her off.

"Are you choosing her side too, Paige?"

"I'm not trying to choose a side, just trying to mediate." Paige answers.

"Piper, I understand your frustration and you know that I am always behind you in everything you do but this is going too far." Phoebe says.

"Going too far? There are no boundaries when it comes to Prue, Phoebe."

"I think you're being selfish, Piper."

"Selfish?! Saving Prue is being selfish?" Piper asks Phoebe as she walks towards Phoebe slowly.

"You don't want to save Prue because she needs help, you want to save Prue because you need to fill the hole her absence created when she died; but you can't." Phoebe explains, "Rosier told us that she's gone…"

"Since when do we take the Elders for their word, Phoebe?" Piper asks angrily.

"It's not just Rosier, Piper! Grams said it, Andy said it and so did mom." Phoebe says as she takes a deep breath, "Prue has been recycled, Piper. Her soul is no longer in this universe or any of the planes of existence. Instead of facing that and moving on, you're determined to take onto the task of doing the impossible."

"The impossible?" Piper laughs angrily, "We're the freaking Charmed Ones. Impossible does not exist in our vocabulary. Our sister needs us and she came to me."

"Right because you claim you sensed her aura and saw her apparition for a brief minute." Phoebe adds, "She's gone, Piper. There's no way to save someone that is beyond our powers. We may be the Charmed Ones but our magic has its limitations, Piper."

"Piper, Phoebe is right. You're letting your feelings cloud your better judgment." Paige finally adds.

Piper scoffs as she turns around and walks up the stairs, heading to the attic. Phoebe runs after her.

"Let her go, Phoebe!" Paige screams after her as she runs after her sisters.

Piper opens the door to the attic and marches straight for the Book. Phoebe runs into the attic a few seconds later and Paige joins her shortly afterwards.

"Guys?" Paige tries to interject peacefully, "We need to take a moment and calm down and discuss this issue rationally."

"You need to talk some sense into your sister because she's the one who's not being impractical." Piper shouts.

"Me? Being impractical?" Phoebe says as her voice raises.

"Phoebe!" Paige yells as Phoebe's eyes lock into Paige's.

Phoebe takes a deep breath and sighs. She looks at Piper and walks to her and grabs her hands.

"Piper, I understand how you could've thought you saw Prue, especially today of all days."

"I know I saw her, Phoebe." Piper says, "I don't understand why you're so upset."

"Piper, we lost an innocent we didn't have to lose today because you were off chasing your imagination. That's why I'm so upset." Phoebe responds.

"I was not imagining anything, Phoebe."

"How many hours have you been working, Piper? You have split your time between the club and the restaurant with no time in between; you were probably imagining things." Phoebe says.

"Now you're insulting my intelligence." Piper says.

Phoebe groans as she walks away.

"Look. Prue came to me. She says she needed me to save her." Piper explains.

"Save her from what?!" Phoebe asks bitterly.

"I don't know."

"You've got to be kidding me." Phoebe says, "So you don't claim responsibility in Tracy's death?!"

"Why should I?" Piper asks.

"Because you were supposed to be watching her! She died because you left the room and the darklighter took advantage of the moment. How do you know the darklighter didn't cast a spell on you to make you think you saw Prue?"

"She didn't." Piper says, reaffirming her stance.

"But how do you know that?" Phoebe asks.

"I don't." Piper finally concedes, "But I know in my heart that I saw Prue and I'm going to do what I need to do to bring her back."

"Which is what?" Phoebe asks, "You're going to need the power of three to pull a hail Mary move like that and I sure as hell ain't going to do anything like that."

Piper takes a deep breath and walks towards Phoebe.

"Of course you don't want to bring back Prue. Why would you?" Piper begins.

"Because she's been dead for ten years, Piper." Phoebe repeats, "You of all people should know that once the Angel of Death claims his victim, that's it."

"You never cared about Prue." Piper says, "You never liked Prue. You and Prue fought majority of the time she was alive because you were so stubborn, you didn't want to listen to her."

"Ok, now you're just reaching, Piper." Phoebe laughs nervously.

"No, I don't think I am." Piper says, "You and Prue fought over a lot of things, if not everything. You fought over Roger, you fought over being witches, you fought about Cole, and it's funny how she was right about that."

"Uh Piper?" Paige tries to butt in but Piper holds up her hand, signaling her to be quiet.

"And that remark you made to me in the hospital today? ' _I know today is hard for you?'_ " Piper quotes, "It's like I'm the only one who really hurt when Prue died. You mourned Prue for about a week and then went on to live as if she never existed."

"That's not fair, Piper." Phoebe says as he voice begins to crack.

"You never cared about her. You never loved her." Piper says, "And as far as you're concerned, Prue never existed in your world and your life is better off without her."

"That's low, Piper." Phoebe says as tears form in her eyes, "Especially for you."

"You don't mean that, Piper…" Paige says as she walks closer to her sisters.

"She does." Phoebe says as tears fall from her eyes, "I can feel her emotions."

Piper clears her throat and folds her arms.

"Well, thanks for letting me know how you really feel." Phoebe says as she turns around and walks away.

"Phoebe…" Paige calls for her but Phoebe continues to walk out. White orbs surround Phoebe as she disappears from sight. Piper's demeanor changes for a brief second as white orbs surround her and she disappears from the attic as well.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _San Francisco, 2017_

Piper and Phoebe release a loud gasp as they open their eyes and sit up. They stare at each other and then stare at Laylah.

"Welcome back." Laylah says with a smile.

"Yeah, welcome back." Paige says with relief, "We have a problem."

Piper and Phoebe look at each other and then at Paige.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Sitting among the crowded gymnasium is Chris watching the student council speeches. Having sat through the speeches of the presidents, vice presidents, secretaries and treasurer candidates of the 4th grade, his levels of boredom had reached new heights. By the time the 5th grade candidates came around, he was wondering how many times he had yawned since he arrived. He probably lost track.

"Thank you, Missy Taylor for that speech. Missy Taylor or Joshua Manning for Vice President of the 5th grade class!" Principal Dawson announces, "Let's give them a round of applause."

The scattered applause in the gym confirmed Chris' suspicions that he wasn't the only bored person in the room.

"Ok…" the principal says, "Now up for the 5th grade class is the student president candidates also known as the 'Battle of the Halliwells', let's hear it for Patricia Halliwell!"

The students clap, whistle and cheer as Tricia makes her way down from the bleachers and towards the podium standing in the front of the audience.

"Thank you, Principal Dawson and faculty members." She begins, "I know I'm new here and most of you don't know me…"

"We love you, Tricia!" a student can be heard yelling in the distance.

"I love you too." Tricia smiles as she begins to blush.

Chris rolls his eyes and sees his sister sitting in the front row of the bleachers, her left leg moving restlessly and the constant tucking her hair behind her ears; a tell Chris has always known to indicate how nervous Mellie was.

"I know I'm new here and you guys don't know me but I don't have to be new to see what is lacking and what needs improvement." Tricia says, "I'm a girl of a few words so I'll let this video do the talking for me."

Tricia steps aside and gives a quick signal. The lights turn off and the projector screen slides down, as the video begins to play.

"Are you wondering who to vote for?" the voice from the video begins, "Are you confused? Don't worry. Vote for someone cool."

An image of Tricia walking down the street, donning a huge coat, aviator shades with her hair in a bun walks down a runway as the paparazzi bombard her with their flashing lights and cameras.

"Vote for someone fun!" the narrator adds as Tricia dances with a group of her girls in a circle.

"Vote for someone smart." The narrator says as Tricia sits in the library wearing reading glasses reading a book. She looks up at the camera and smiles.

An image of Tricia standing in front of a green screen a la 'Wheel of Fortune' has the following letters behind her:

"ST_DENT CO_NCIL"

"All we need is U." the narrator says as Tricia walks to the missing pieces of the phrase and overturns the last two letters, spelling ' _Student Council'_.

"Vote for Tricia Halliwell for your 5th grade president." The narrator concludes as the lights come back on and the projector screen slides back into the ceiling.

"I'm Tricia Halliwell, and I approve of this message." Tricia adds to which the auditorium cheers aloud. Tricia walks to her seat and glances over to Mellie. She gives Mellie an apathetic shrug and flips her hair. Mellie looks down and sighs.

"Thank you for that video, Tricia!" the principal says as she claps really loudly into the microphone.

"Next, last but not least, we have the last candidate for president for the 5th grade class, Melinda Halliwell!"

Scattered applause sounds the air once more which makes Mellie more nervous. As she approaches the podium, she stumbles over one of the wire but catches herself before she hits the ground. The entire auditorium erupts in laughter as Mellie finally reaches the podium. She looks around nervously and her eyes catch Chris in the stands. Chris gives her a thumbs up and Mellie swallows a lump in her throat.

"Alright, alright. Give her a chance to make her speech." Principal Dawson says, trying to calm the laughing crowd.

As the gymnasium falls silent, Mellie takes a deep breath and then opens her mouth to begin her speech.

"Umm hi." Mellie begins nervously.

"I'm Melinda Halliwell and I…" Mellie says as the feedback from the microphone sounds the air, causing the entire student body to groan in unison.

"Sorry…" Mellie laughs nervously. She looks up into the stands and finds Chris staring at her. He nods with a smile and that alone gives Mellie a slight boost of confidence.

"Some of you know me from preschool days until now, and some of you have known me because of my brothers, Wyatt and Chris."

The audience begins to cheer and whistle.

"Yeah, I know. You guys like my brothers because of the school trophies and you girls like my brothers because you think they're cute."

Laughter and a wolf whistle are heard amongst the crowd.

"Yeah, being a student in this school for so long makes everyone feel like you're part of a family. We see the things we like and the things we don't like so that we can make better. What do I want to do as your student class president? I can't promise much because honestly, our power is limited but I know I will hear all of your concerns and work extremely hard on your behalf. I stand before you today not only as your candidate but as your friend. Like a good friend, I will be honest with you about the challenges we will face and try to help change it to fit our needs. As your friend, I will also be asking for your help."

Mellie pauses and walks over to a girl sitting before her.

"Jackie Leary, you were complaining about how we need more time at study hall to use the computers. Maggie Kennedy, you wanted us to try and get more time at recess. Luis Rodriguez, you told me about getting new balls for gym and try to have weekend access to the gym and Gabby Mitchell, you wanted new library books and a chess tournament." Mellie continues.

"All of this is achievable and as your president, I can't promise that I will make it happen in the blink of an eye but I will promise that I can make it happen as soon as I can. I will work hard to be the voice that needs to be heard to make the things you want. I promise we will get rewarded for our hard work. If we have perfect attendance, you should be rewarded with a pizza day."

"Yeah!" the crowd begins to cheer and agree.

"We should be able to get a few more minutes between classes. We should be able to get at least an extra five minutes for lunch. We should be allowed our phones during school."

"Yeah!" the students scream in unison.

"Ahem!" Principal Dawson clears her throat and Mellie chuckles nervously.

"Maybe we should be allowed to use our phones between classes and lunch periods only."

"YEAH!"

"These are the few things I would try to make happen if I am elected president. I don't have a video that shows how cool I am, or how smart I am. I have a speech that will show you I am here for you! I am here to serve you! Vote Mellie Halliwell for president!"

"YEAH!" the crowd screams.

Almost immediately, the lights go off in the gym and the PA system turns on. The crowd and the teachers look around confused.

"What's going on?" the students begin to mutter to each other.

"I don't know."

"Now give it up for the Eisenhower High cheerleaders!" the familiar male voice says on the PA system as the spotlight searches and lands on the gym doors.

The line of girls in cheer outfits burst into the gym with pom-poms, performing back flips into the gym. The girls get in formation with the male cheerleaders behind them.

"WHO ROCKS THE HOUSE?!" they begin to chant, "MELINDA ROCKS THE HOUSE! EVERYBODY! WHO ROCKS THE HOUSE?!"

"MELINDA ROCKS THE HOUSE!" The crowd responds enthusiastically.

"STRAIGHEN THAT V, DOT THAT I, CURVE THAT C-T-O-R-Y! SHOW THAT M, POINT TO THAT E, SPELL THE L-L-I-E! STUDENT PRESIDENT, WHO THAT BE?!" the cheerleaders ask.

"MELLIE! MELLIE! MELLIE!" the crowd cheers.

The cheerleaders perform a routine and complicated dance move with the occasional lift, flip and catch. The song ends and the cheerleaders scream, "Vote Mellie!"

The entire gymnasium erupts in thunderous applause, cheers, screams and whistles as Mellie's name fills the air. The lights turn back on and Mellie looks at Chris, who shrugs in confusion. Mellie looks up in the stands and sees Wyatt leaning against the wall with a smile on his face. Mellie's eyes fill with tears and nod her appreciation to her older brother.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In the Manor, Phoebe sits on one end of the attic and Piper sits in the other with Paige in the middle.

"This is not happening again." Paige groans.

"She said some cruel things to me back there. I almost forgot how hurtful she was just because she was being delusional!" Phoebe says.

"How is that so if that was the truth?" Piper asks.

"You did this!" Paige points to Laylah, "You fix it!"

"Listen ladies," Laylah begins, "Doing this vision quest was supposed to be granting you guys closure."

"Yeah, great job with that one." Piper says sarcastically.

"But you guys knew what that entailed, which meant seeing what made the power of three disconnect. There's no need to get angry over the same old problem. The point is to figure it out and move on from there." Laylah says.

"And honestly we will figure that part out but right now, we have to help an innocent so this sibling feud has to be put on ice for now, okay?" Paige says.

"Fine." Phoebe sighs as she walks over to the couch and sits down.

"Fine." Piper says as she walks closer to Paige, "What are we dealing with?"

"This is Jake. His son was one of the social cases I worked back then." Paige begins, "He says he has been haunted by demonic visions and now he's been attacked by a demon."

"That doesn't make sense, how is he getting haunted by demonic visions if he's a mortal?" Piper asks.

"I mean it is rare but it can happen." Phoebe says, "Mortals who have had an encounter with supernatural beings can have that happen to them."

"So it begs the question, who did you have an encounter with?" Piper asks.

"I don't know…" Jake begins to say as the demon shimmers into the attic.

"Well, we didn't have to wait too long." Phoebe says as she stands up.

The demon forms an energy ball and walks closer to the sisters. Jake jumps up and runs behind Piper and Phoebe.

"I'm not here for you witches. I'm here for the mortal." The demon says.

"Well, that isn't happening so I guess that's that." Paige says as she holds out her hand and tries to orb the energy ball.

"Damn it!" Paige shouts angrily, "I forgot I can't do that anymore."

"Well you can still move him." Phoebe says as she tugs onto Paige's sleeve.

"Right." Paige says as she waves her hand at the demon. The boxes in the corner behind the demon fly all over the place and the demon begins to chuckle.

"Yeah, I am still having issues with this power." Paige says.

"Ok, Prue had a problem controlling her power with her hands at first so maybe we can walk her through it?" Phoebe says, looking at Piper and then Paige.

"How?" Paige asks.

"I don't have time for this." The demon says as he hurls the energy ball towards the sisters. Piper holds out her right arm and freezes the energy ball in midair.

"Now what?" Paige asks.

"Deflect the energy ball back to him. With any luck, you'll vanquish him and save us the trouble of creating a spell and potion." Piper says.

"What if I miss again?" Paige asks.

"Listen, Paige," Phoebe begins, "Your power works by moving the object in direct sight of you. Just like you started to do with your orbing telekinetic power, just figure out your trigger and then wave your arm at him."

"Prue's trigger was anger so try that." Piper includes.

Paige takes a deep breath and waves her hand at the demon. The demon unfreezes and flies into the wall as the energy ball flies towards the witches.

"Duck!" Laylah screams as the energy ball narrowly misses them and hits the glass window behind them. Piper stands up and looks at Jake and Laylah.

"Are you guys okay?" she asks.

Phoebe stands up and punches the demon in the throat, grabs his arm and flips him into the ground. The demon shoots another energy ball towards Piper.

"Piper, watch out!" Paige says as she instinctively holds her hand out and suspends the energy ball in midair. The energy ball continues to sizzle and sparkle as the entire audience watch in confusion.

Paige waves her hand and the energy ball flies towards the demon, hitting him in the chest and engulfing him in flames. He screams and disappears in a fiery explosion.

"I did it!" Paige says with excitement.

"Yeah, that was close." Phoebe says, sounding out of breath.

"So is that it? Am I safe?" Jake asks.

"We don't know yet." Phoebe answers, "He may have been one of many."

"I think you're right. Is it okay if I stay here for a little while just in case?" Jake asks, "I don't want to be by myself."

"What about your son? Why don't you stay with him?" Paige asks.

"We're not that close." Jake blurts out, "I just don't want to put him in danger."

Paige and Phoebe look at Piper.

"What do you say?" Paige asks.

"He can stay until we're sure he's safe." Piper says.

"Ok. Thank you." Paige says with a smile.

"Well, I have to go to the club and the restaurant so I can't watch him." Piper says.

"Watch me? I don't need to be watched." Jake says sharply.

Paige, Piper and Phoebe look at Jake suspiciously.

"I think you're mistaken if you think you have a choice in the matter." Piper says.

"I'm supposed to go house hunting with Coop and it's a little bit after two." Phoebe says as she checks her watch, "How come Billie or Laura can't watch him?"

"Billie's with Jerry and Laura's not answering her phone." Paige answers.

"And where is Coop?" Piper asks.

"I don't know." Phoebe whispers, "Why can't Paige watch him?"

"I have to go check out a hunch." Paige answers.

"A hunch?" Phoebe asks.

"Yeah. Just give me an hour or two. I promise." Paige says she heads towards the exit of the attic.

"Paige!" Phoebe sighs as Paige stops for a brief moment.

"One hour, two tops." Paige says as she runs out, "Love you!"

Phoebe turns around to face Piper, who is trying her best to hide her laughter.

"Don't look at me. I have to go to work." Piper says as she walks out, "Have fun!"

Phoebe groans loudly and turns around to see Laylah and Jake staring at her.

"Great." Phoebe smiles forcibly, "Just great."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

As Piper races into her car in a failed attempt to keep from being drenched, a sign outside her neighbor's house catches her eye. She opens the door and sits into her car and looks at the neighbor's sign again. A thought crosses her mind as she smiles for a second before starting her car.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper pulls up to P3 and sees Leo's car parked outside. She grabs her umbrella and opens her car door. The umbrella pops opens and Piper runs into the club.

"I swear I don't know why I carry this umbrella." Piper says as she begins to walk down the stairs and into the club when she hears loud music and loud cheering. She sees Leo, Henry and Coop taking shots and cheering out loud after each swig.

"WHAT in the hell is going on in here?" Piper asks.

"Uh oh." Henry mutters.

"Hey, Piper." Leo says, his words slurring as he begins to laugh.

"Are you drunk?!" Piper asks.

"No, _you're_ drunk!" Leo shoots back as Henry and Coop begin to laugh.

"Leo, it's 2:30 in the afternoon and you're drinking?!" Piper asks as her voice begins to hit an angry high pitch.

"Hey, it's happy hour somewhere in the world, am I right?" Henry says as he lets out a guttural laugh.

"You." Piper turns her attention to Henry, "You were supposed to pick up the kids thirty minutes ago and you're here getting drunk and you, Coop! Your wife is looking for you because you're supposed to be going house shopping!"

"Oh yeah. I forgot about all of that." Coop mumbles.

Piper breaks into an exasperated laugh.

"Uh, is she okay?" Coop asks.

"You know what?" Piper asks, "Don't let me ruin your fun. You guys stay here and drink. I'll go pick up the kids by myself while you guys drink to your heart's content!"

Piper spins and storms up the stairs of P3. She opens the door and slams it shut.

"What just happened?" Henry asks.

"I think we just started world war 3." Leo answers.

"We're in trouble?" Coop asks.

"We're in trouble." Leo replies in a dreadful tone.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Paige drives up to a long storied building, covered in glass windows. She walks into the building and looks around. She sees a sign leading to the District Attorney's office and follows the directions. She jumps into the elevator and a brief moment later, she arrives at her destination.

She walks further into the building and reaches an office door with the name 'Justin Grisanti' attached to the door. She knocks lightly and awaits an answer.

"Please come in." the man answers.

Paige walks further into the office and stands behind the chairs in front of the desk. On the other side of the desk sat a blonde young man, reading a document and typing on his computer.

"Uh, Justin Grisanti?" Paige says softly.

Justin looks up and stares at Paige.

"You probably don't remember me but I'm Paige Matthews, I was kind of working on your case as a social services worker when you were younger."

"Paige? Yes!" Justin says as he stands up and extends his hand for a handshake, "Of course I remember you! Have a seat!"

Paige nods nervously and sits down.

"It's good to see you." Justin says.

"Same to you. You've grown!" Paige says with a smile.

"I guess." Justin blushes, "What brings you here?"

"It's about your father." Paige begins.

"You found him?" Justin asks, concerned.

"Found him?"

"Yeah, he's been troubled for a while. After my mother passed, he got worse and disappeared." Justin divulges.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Paige asks.

Justin takes a deep breath and sighs.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Phoebe and Laylah sit in the living room watching television. Phoebe laughs as she munches on her popcorn and Laylah stares at Phoebe laughing at the television screen.

"What show is this?" Laylah asks.

"Mistresses." Phoebe answers.

"There's a show about being a mistress?" Laylah asks.

"Well not anymore. It got cancelled." Phoebe replies.

"The quality of television has really decreased in the past ten years." Laylah says.

"You ain't lying!" Phoebe says as she takes a sip of her drink and takes a handful of her popcorn and stuffs it in her mouth. Phoebe's phone begins to ring and she struggles to answer it.

"Hello?" Phoebe answers with her mouth full.

"Phoebe?" Paige asks on the other line.

"Yeah, what's up?" Phoebe asks.

"Where's Jake?" Paige asks.

"I don't know. He left to go use the bathroom. Why?" Phoebe asks.

"He's not who he says he is. Whatever you do, do not let him out of your sight." Paige says.

"Wait, why? What's going on?" Phoebe asks.

"I can't talk on the phone right now. Just call Piper and ask her to come to the Manor. I'll explain when I see you." Paige says as she hangs up the phone.

Phoebe looks at the phone and then at Laylah.

"What happened?" Laylah asks.

"That was Paige about Jake."

"Where is Jake anyway?" Laylah asks as she looks around.

A moment of realization hits Phoebe as she jumps up and runs up the stairs with Laylah watching in confusion.

A brief moment later, Phoebe runs into the attic to see it empty but the Book of Shadows is wide open. Phoebe runs to the Book and sees that a page has been ripped out.

"Damn it!" Phoebe yells angrily as Laylah walks in.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Even in the nighttime, the rain still continues its rampage upon the city of San Francisco. The clouds shielded the moon which casted the entire city into darkness. Even with the lights of the city illuminating the path for the inhabitants, the thunderstorm was too much of a force to be reckoned with. Within the Manor, Phoebe, Piper, Paige and Laylah sat in the attic discussing their current dilemma.

"So let me get this straight." Phoebe says, "Jake took a page out of the Book? For what?"

"A spell to summon a demon." Laylah answers.

"Why would he want to summon a demon?" Piper asks.

"Apparently, around the time their case made it to my job, Jake was possessed by a great evil and even after the demon left, Jake felt that power inside him and wanted more. He has been trying to find a way to summon a demon to give him that kind of power again but he has been failing." Paige explains, "His obsession consumed him to the point where he became alienated from everyone and fell off the face of the planet, so to speak. He has been searching for the right spell to summon a demon and I led him right to one."

"But he's a mortal. How can he cast a spell?" Piper asks.

"When a mortal is possessed, sometimes the demon leaves a mark on the soul of the mortal. Kind of like a residual magic which they can tap into if the demon that possessed them was powerful enough." Laylah explains.

"That explains the visions he was having." Phoebe says.

"What demon possessed him though?" Piper asks.

"If the timeline is right, the only demon that we were dealing with at the time was the Source." Paige says as a flash of lightning and clap of thunder cracks.

"Of all Evil?" Piper asks.

"The one and the same." Paige answers.

"Wow." Piper whispers, "Just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse."

"Piper, can we not go into the vision quest thing right now?" Phoebe pleads.

"Oh, I'm not talking about that." Piper laughs, "I'm talking about our husbands at P3 but we'll discuss that after we take care of that issue."

"Wait, _our_ husbands?" Phoebe says as she sits up.

"Yup!" Piper answers, "All three of them. Having a grand old time."

"We don't have time to freak out about them right now." Paige says, "We need to find Jake as soon as possible."

"It's not like he could summon the Source. We 86'd him already." Phoebe says.

"Yeah, but he's been brought back before so I wouldn't count on it." Piper says.

"Judging by the spell he took from the Book, I doubt that he is going after the Source." Phoebe says as she stands up.

"What makes you say that?" Piper asks.

"He ripped the page labeled, ' _Spirit classifications_ '." Phoebe says, "He isn't trying to summon the Source. He's going for the closest possessing demon he can find. The darklighter."

"You don't mean…." Piper says as her eyes widen as she realizes Jake's plan.

"The one and the same." Phoebe finishes her sister's sentence.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Jake draws a pentagram in the center of his living room floor with a lit black candle sitting at every point of the pentagram. He reads the torn page and follows the instructions to the T. He grabs an athame and winces as he slices open his palm. He clenches his fist as drops his blood into a bowl full of ingredients. He wraps his hand with a cloth and then begins to read the spell.

" _I summon thee, agent of the dark;  
I give myself to be your mark.  
I call to thee to be your vessel;  
And offer to you, my body as your temple_."

As soon as Jake finishes reading the spell, white swirls of golden orbs appear in his apartment and the Charmed Ones materialize.

"Jake, don't do it!" Paige pleads.

"It's too late!" Jake says as he breaks into a maniacal laughter.

"Why are you doing this?" Phoebe asks.

"I have never felt such power in my life! And after he left me, I wanted more. I needed more! Then I found out he was gone for good because you vanquished him! If I can't have him, I will have the next best thing." Jake explains.

A dark cloud of smoke appears in the pentagram, blowing out the candles. A brief second later, the darklighter appears in the pentagram.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we've got here." The darklighter says, "The mighty Charmed Ones."

The darklighter steps out of the pentagram and smiles.

"I see that you guys have come out of retirement since the last time we faced each other." The darklighter snickers.

"We will do to you what we didn't do before, which is vanquish your sorry ass." Paige says, clenching her fists.

"Yeah, I don't think so." The darklighter folds her arms, "I can always sense the aura that surrounds the soul and I can sense that you guys are less powerful than before. Less powers. How is it that you're going to vanquish me if you couldn't do so at your best?"

Piper, Phoebe and Paige look at each other and then look at the darklighter.

"You'll be surprised at what we have up our sleeve." Piper responds.

"Do we have anything up our sleeve?" Phoebe asks Piper in a whisper.

"Yes!" Piper grunts in a low growl.

"I see." The darklighter says as she turns her attention to Jake, "Thank you for bringing me here."

"I humbly offer up my vessel to serve as yours." Jake says as he bends the knee and bows.

"You're amusing." The darklighter laughs, "You're kind of cute but you're not my type. Let me take care of these witches first before we handle business."

The darklighter forms a dark orb and hurls it at the sisters. Piper holds out her hand and freezes the orb in midair.

"Paige?" Piper calls to her sister.

Paige waves her hand and deflects the orb back to the darklighter, who orbs out of the way and the dark orb hits the wall behind her. She orbs back into the room and laughs.

"Wow, telekinesis." The darklighter says, amused, "I thought that was the blonde one's power. Time to extinguish the power of three once and for all."

The darklighter waves her hands and the three sisters fly backwards and hit the glass door behind them, landing in the adjoining room next door.

"Ow!" Phoebe groans as she looks to her sisters, "If any of you guys have a plan, now would be the perfect time to share."

"The power of three. When in doubt, power of three out?" Paige asks.

"Power of three out." Piper nods.

"Sounds like a plan." Phoebe smiles as they stand up and walk towards the darklighter.

"Here I was actually expecting an actual challenge, but then I guess I will be doing the world a favor, getting rid of the Charmed Ones."

Piper, Phoebe and Paige join hands and close their eyes.

"The Power of Three will set us free; the Power of Three will set us free." They begin to chant.

The darklighter laughs and attempts to hurl another dark orb but her hands freeze in place.

"What's going on?" she asks.

"The Power of Three will set us free; the Power of Three will set us free."

White lights begin to rise from the sisters and enter the darklighter as she begins to scream loudly.

"Please let it stop!" she begs for mercy.

"The Power of Three will set us free."

The darklighter engulfs in flames as her screams begin to reach blood curdling levels. Jake, watching in disbelief begins to plead with the sisters.

"Please stop!" Jake screams, pleading desperately, "I beg of you!"

"The Power of Three will set us free."

The darklighter screams and with no other option, Jake jumps into the fire with the darklighter as the final explosion sweeps through the apartment, vanquishing the darklighter and taking Jake along as a casualty.

The Charmed Ones open their eyes.

"Jake?" Paige says as she looks around.

"When in doubt…" Paige begins to say.

"Power of Three out." Phoebe finishes with a smile.

"That was for Tracy, you bitch." Piper says softly.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A quick glance over the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen with dark clouds hovering over it. The thunderstorm reduces to a light drizzle with heavy winds and the occasional misty spray. From the view of the Twin Peaks, nighttime stretched ahead as long as the illuminated bridge that stretched between the Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

Paige and Henry's house can be seen with the green Volkswagen parked outside. Inside the house, Paige kisses Henry Jr. on the forehead and walks out. She walks into her bedroom and sees Henry passed out on the bed. Paige turns on the lights and slams the door shut, which wakes up Henry and he grimaces in pain.

"Serves you right for the crap you pulled today." Paige says as she folds her arms.

"Can you turn off the light please?" Henry begs.

"Not until we talk about what today was all about."

"Are you serious?" Henry groans.

"Don't make me orb you to the top of the bridge and have you listen to the noises of the city." Paige threatens.

"Alright, alright!" Henry gives in as he rolls over and looks at Paige. He opens his eyes slightly, trying his hardest to keep them open.

"So spill. What was the issue with you today?" Paige asks.

"You want to start working again?" Henry asks.

"Yes."

"How come today was the first time I ever heard of it?" Henry asks.

"Because I didn't think it was a big deal. I was discussing a life decision with my sisters and my husband in the room. Didn't know it was going to cause a reaction out of you." Paige answers.

"I was just upset because we're supposed to discuss things that affect this family together before it leaves our circle to other ears." Henry says.

"My sisters are my family too..."

"I know but when we got married, our kids and me became a top priority. Any decision you make affects us more than it affect your sisters." Henry explains.

"You're right." Paige says, "I'm sorry."

Henry smiles and rolls on his back.

"Now, I feel like it's deeper than me not telling you about going back to work." Paige says.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Henry mutters.

"Henry Mitchell?" Paige says with a tone of doubt in her voice.

"It's just that the past ten years have been blissful and now that you guys are back to battling demon of the week, we're going to go back to the arguing and barely being able to see each other. I look forward to coming home and seeing you and the kids home, I miss going to your sister's for breakfast in the morning. I miss having to spending my days off with you. Now that you and your sisters are fighting demons again, I'm afraid that's going to be gone."

"Oh Henry…" Paige says as she moves towards him and sits on top of him, "You don't have to worry about that. Ten years ago, we just got married and we just had the twins. Now, they have grown and we are used to this marriage thing. I won't let anything disrupt our pattern because I love it too."

"You promise?" Henry asks in a low, deep voice.

Paige places her palms on each side of Henry's face and kisses him, "Promise."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The Halliwell Manor can be seen, the lights from every window and door piercing the darkness that loomed outside.

Wyatt lies on top of his bunk bed with headphones in his ears, surfing the internet on his laptop while Chris sits at the desk doing his homework. A light knock is heard on the door.

"Who is it?" Chris asks.

"It's me." Mellie muffled answer can be heard on the other side.

"Come in." Chris says, inviting his sister into the room.

Mellie walks into the room and leans against Chris' desk.

"Well, look who it is." Wyatt says as he takes off his headphones and jumps off the bed, "The President of the 5th Grade class, her excellency Melinda Halliwell."

"How are you feeling, Madame President?" Chris asks his sister.

"I'm just so glad that it's over." Mellie says, drawing a deep sigh.

"You did well. That speech was inspiring." Chris says as he playfully nudges his sister.

"Yeah, I didn't know where that came from but thank God you were there because that helped me a little bit." Mellie says.

"Thanks, Wyatt." Mellie smiles as Wyatt walks to his sister and throws his arm around her.

"How did you get the school cheerleaders to do all of that?" Chris asks.

"Let's just say I now owe them a favor. Being popular has its perks." Wyatt smiles.

"Yeah, I bet." Chris rolls his eyes.

"Thank you for that, Wyatt. I think you helped swing the votes in my favor after that." Mellie says.

"I doubt it." Wyatt says, "You had the votes already, I just gave them a victory performance."

"Thank you again." Mellie says as she hugs her older brother and then looks at Chris, "Thank you both. I love you guys."

"Don't say that too loud, now." Wyatt jokes and Mellie laughs.

"I just came to by to thank you guys so thanks." Mellie says with an innocent smile as she walks out the door, "Good night."

"Good night!" Wyatt and Chris yell after her as she closes the door gently.

Chris stares at his brother with a smile.

"What?" Wyatt asks.

"That was an awesome thing you did." Chris says.

"Yeah, I'm known to be nice sometimes." Wyatt laughs.

"Right. Well, it wouldn't kill you to turn that into a streak." Chris says.

"I'm the nice one among us two, so I don't know what you're talking about." Wyatt says.

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night." Chris laughs.

Wyatt runs his fingers through Chris' hair, tosses it and jumps back up into his bunk bed.

"Damn it, Wyatt!" Chris screams as he tries to fix his hair.

"It makes you look more daring and dangerous, you'll thank me later." Wyatt laughs.

"Doubt it." Chris groans.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper sits in the living room watching TV as Leo drags himself back into the house. He drops onto the couch and groans painfully.

"Do you mind? I'm watching TV." Piper says, slightly annoyed.

"I'm ready." Leo says groggily.

"Ready for what?" Piper asks.

"For you to yell at me, cuss me out or something." Leo answers.

"No, Leo. I'm not going to tell you anything. You know those three kids upstairs? Those are mine to yell at or cuss out. You are a grown man and I don't have to tell you something you already know yourself." Piper says, "You know better. I don't know what possessed you to act like that this morning when we have responsibilities to take care of. This behavior has been on and off for the past few years and you've got to fix it."

"I get it, Piper." Leo says, "I really do. I just worked all my life and when I was finally given a chance to live my life as a mortal, I was frozen for months. When I was released after the Ultimate Battle was won, it made me realize that all work and no play makes for a very dull Leo. I don't want Henry and Coop to suffer through that as well."

"Well couldn't you guys just go to a basketball game or do something healthy and not detrimental to your health?" Piper asks.

"You're right and I'm sorry." Leo says as he crawls to Piper, "Forgive me?"

"You're on probation." Piper says with a smirk.

"I'll take it." Leo says as he leans in for a kiss but Piper turns her head.

"You smell like a bottle of tequila." Piper groans.

"It was actually Jack Daniels." Leo says as he leans backwards against the couch.

The front door opens and closes and Phoebe walks into the living room. She sees Leo leaning against the couch with his eyes closed.

"Hangover?" Phoebe asks.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Leo answers.

"Good." Piper laughs.

"Excuse me while I go hug the porcelain goddess for the next few minutes." Leo retches as he stands up and runs out of the living room.

Phoebe and Piper laugh as Phoebe makes her way to the couch and sits.

"So did you find Coop?" Piper asks.

"Yeah, he's on punishment." Phoebe jokes, "He stood me up so he's going house hunting tomorrow and he has to find me three houses a day in our price range that will meet or exceed my standards."

"Really? Do you think he will accomplish this?" Piper laughs.

"Yeah, he knows my heart so he knows what I like. The issue is finding the right house." Phoebe says.

"Well, it seems like Mrs. Noble is selling her house next door so that's one house for you." Piper says.

"Really?" Phoebe asks as her eyes light up.

"Yeah, I saw the ' _For Sale_ ' sign earlier today." Piper answers, "It would be kind of cool to be neighbors."

"Yeah, it would, wouldn't it?" Phoebe says, "But then wouldn't it be weird for you that Dan used to live there and you guys used to…you know?"

"Is it weird for you that you used to live here with Cole and you guys used to…you know?" Piper counters.

"Good point." Phoebe yields.

A brief moment of silence befalls the sisters and Piper finally breaks the ice.

"You know, Phoebe. What I said all those years ago, I didn't mean it." Piper confesses, "I was just angry."

"Yes, you did." Phoebe nods, "But I don't blame you."

"What do you mean?" Piper asks.

"I felt responsible for Prue's death..." Phoebe begins, "I _feel_ responsible for Prue's death."

"It wasn't your fault."

"You don't remember because Tempus reset time." Phoebe says as her voice begins to crack, "Shax attacked the first time, and I came down and said the spell that wounded him. Then, I went down to the underworld to go be with Cole so when Tempus reset time to the first attack, I wasn't there to say the spell again, I wasn't able to get Leo to you guys in time and Prue died.

"Phoebe…" Piper says in a comforting tone as she takes Phoebe's hands into hers.

"I have had to carry that thought in my head for the last sixteen years and it doesn't matter what anyone else says. Prue's death was my fault because I wasn't there to save her." Phoebe says as breaks down.

Piper walks over to Phoebe and hugs her sister.

"It's ok, Phoebe. It's ok." Piper says, "Prue's death affected all of us differently. Hell, I turned into a Fury because of it. I just didn't see you grieve as much so I was worried. I know we all grieve differently but still."

"I know but it doesn't change how I feel. I can't imagine what Prue would've said if she were here." Phoebe says.

"She would be proud of you." Piper says, "She would be proud of how far you've come, and how well your life has turned out. You're a wife, a mother with a successful career as an accomplished author and advice columnist."

"I think she would have laughed at the part about me being an advice columnist since I rarely took her advice." Phoebe jokes and Piper chuckles.

"I have reason to believe that Prue truly came to me that night in the hospital, no matter what you or Paige said. I know she did." Piper says, "But then I thought about taking care of the sisters I have with me now, and not the sister who isn't. If Prue was really out there, she would've appeared to me again but it's been 6 years and I haven't seen nor heard from her so I guess I have to put that to rest."

"I know you really wanted to believe Prue was alive and if you say you saw her, I believe you." Phoebe says with a tearful smile.

"Thanks, Phoebe." Piper says as she wipes Phoebe's tears with her thumb.

"At least we were able to avenge Tracy today." Phoebe notes.

"Yeah, that's the silver lining but something doesn't make sense to me." Piper says.

"What?"

"The whole thing with Jake." Piper says, "If all he wanted was to be possessed by a demon and he lied about being hunted by demons, who sent the demon after him?"

"Who has the power to send demons since they have all been shielded and cloaked from us?" Phoebe asks.

"Abaddon?" Piper questions.

"That's the only explanation that makes sense. The only question is why?" Phoebe ponders, "What does he get from this?"

Phoebe and Piper stare at each other and then stare off into the space, mind clouded with deep thoughts and controversies.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In the dark one bedroom studio apartment, the window allows the wind to sweep through the room; knocking down portraits that hung on the walls, the candles that stood on the pentagram knocked over. The ashes of the darklighter gathered neatly outside of the circle.

Footsteps can be heard echoing in the empty apartment as a pair of hands are seen closing the open window.

"It would seem that your target perished with the darklighter." Sebastian says as he examines the ashes.

"So it would seem." Abaddon says staring out of the window.

"What is the next step?" Sebastian asks.

"We kick it up a notch and force the witches' hand next time. They're going to need a lot of distractions and I cannot afford to have them interrupt or have them figure it out." Abaddon plots as he dons the gauntlet and powers up.

He clenches his fist and the gauntlet shoots a purple beam into the air. The beam mixes with the dark clouds and it begins to rain down onto the city.

"Is that what I think it is, my lord?" Sebastian asks respectfully.

"The cloak protecting all the demons has been lifted." Sebastian says, "Now with the demons running amok, I will be the last thing on the witches' mind."

"And what about Laylah? Won't she help them figure it out?" Sebastian asks.

"I'm not worried about her. She is not back to her full strength yet. She's not going to be a nuisance anytime soon. I'll be ready for her when the time comes." Abaddon says as he walks around the apartment, "Time to unleash the next step of my plan."

Abaddon says as he disappears in a flash of blinding white light. Sebastian follows suit, disappearing in a dark red light.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

At a noisy bar buzzing with conversations and the clack of the pool and billiard balls, a man sits by the counter with an empty glass in his hand, looking older than his true age. He sports a bushy beard with his shaggy hair. He grunts and bangs on the counter, signaling the bartender to pour him another shot.

"You've had enough for today. I'm cutting you off." The bartender says.

The man grabs the bartender by his shirt and pulls him closer to him with half his body over the counter.

"I'm not going to ask you twice." The man threatens the bartender.

A flash of white fills the room and a lot of screams can be heard in the room, accompanied with bloodcurdling screams.

"The man asked for a drink." Abaddon says as he sits on a stool next to the man.

Petrified, the bartender backs away and shakily grabs the bottle of rum and pours into the glass.

"That will be all." Abaddon says as he waves his hand dismissively, "On second thought, just say good night."

Abaddon snaps his fingers and the bartender explodes in a fiery death. The man looks at Abaddon and then his eyes fall on Sebastian, standing behind him.

"Who are you?" the man says in a jittery voice, "What do you want?"

"I have a project for you, a real task." Abaddon says with a smile.

"You've got the wrong person." The man says as he knocks back his drink.

"There are only two people in this world who can perform it and one of them died a few hours ago. You're the only one left to handle this task." Abaddon says.

"Why should I do this?" the man asks.

"Have you ever wondered why your life has never been the same for the last sixteen years? Why you cannot keep a job? Why every relationship you've ever been in for the past sixteen years failed miserably? Why the only thing that fills the emptiness in your soul is that brown liquor you love so much?" Sebastian asks.

"How would you know about that?" the man asks.

Abaddon snaps his fingers and Sebastian steps forward. He places his fingers on the man's forehead and a red light passes from his fingers into the man's head. A flood of visions race through the man's head as he begins to scream. The last image he sees before he opens is eyes are of Paige, dancing on the rooftop of P3 and planting a kiss on his lips. He falls to his knees and looks up at Abaddon and Sebastian.

"Who are you?" he asks once more.

"We're friends, and we're going to give you everything you ever wanted and more, Shane." Abaddon says with a smile.

Shane looks at Sebastian and Abaddon with extreme confusion. He didn't know what to believe but he knew that they were right about one thing; Paige Matthews ruined his life and he was going to make her pay.

FADE TO BLACK

END OF EPISODE

Guest Starring:

Kaley Cuoco as Billie

Ivan Sergei as Henry

Victor Webster as Coop

Hal Ozsan as Abaddon

Geoff Stults as Sebastian

Sarah Jane Morris as Laylah

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Henry Jr.

Isabela Moner as Bianca

Curtis Harris as Dom

Sandra Prosper as Sheila

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

Eve Plumb as Principal Dawson

Sandra McCoy as Darklighter

Jodelle Ferland as Tracy

Benjamin Parrillo as Jake Grisanti

Robert Thomas Preston as Justin Grisanti

Jordan Bridges as Shane


	12. 10x07: Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1)

**10x07: Are You Afraid of the Dark? (Part 1)  
**

 _Author's Note: A huge shoutout and a thank you to Dominus Trinus for last week's_ _review. I hope you get through Season 9 quickly and catch up to season 10 as soon as you can. The plus side is that as you read along, you will see the breadcrumbs and clues in Season 9 that will make a lot more sense in Season 10. Thank you for following my vision thus far._

 _As for the rest of my readers, I appreciate you guys for the continued reads and support. This episode is what I consider a "filler" episode/chapter but I assure you, the best is yet to come. Once again, any review, be it negative or positive are always welcomed._ _Please continue to read and review. I truly appreciate the love._

 _-KingKenfordIV_

* * *

The dark grey sky restlessly grumbled. The thick blackened clouds were dragged down by the heavy rain which it held in its delicate frame. The clouds which struggled to withstand the burden of the weight of the rain soon gave in. The rain poured down over the city of San Francisco with a roar. The sound of emptiness was disrupted by the loud gregarious boom of thunder. A blinding white light of lightning lit up the sky right after the loud rumble that preceded it.

Piper stood at the entrance to the Halliwell Manor with the front door wide open, while watching her sisters jump out of their cars and racing with their children to the shelter that awaited them. Phoebe's girls were the first to run into the house, soaking wet and dripping all over the rug in their living room.

"Tricia!" Piper calls as she claps her hands to get their attention, "Tricia! Watch the Persian!"

"Sorry, Aunt Piper." Tricia says as she steps off the rug and onto the hardwood floor, "If mom allowed us to beam into the manor instead of running through the rain, we wouldn't have this problem."

"I'll be sure to take that up with her." Piper says, "Until then, stay off the rug."

Tricia rolls her eyes and takes off her jacket.

Paige runs into the house, shielding her children with two umbrellas. The twins take off their jacket and stand by their mother.

"I am going to apologize in advance for the water on the floor, Piper. I know that must be driving you crazy." Paige says as she shuts the umbrellas and hangs them on the coat hanger.

"It's just water, it's fine…" Piper says with a feigned smile.

"As long as you're not on her Persian rug, that is…" Tricia says sarcastically.

Piper flashes a deadly stare towards Tricia who smiles politely in return.

"Where's Mellie?" Gabby asks Piper.

"She's upstairs in her room." Piper answers, "You guys can go up there if you want."

The girls cheer as they run towards the stairs, heading up to the second floor.

"Be careful!" Phoebe yells as she finally joins her sisters, "Thanks for letting us stay here for the night. With the weather like this, it's the perfect time for a sleepover and quality sister time."

"It's no big deal. You were right. The kids need to have memories in this house like we did." Piper says with a smile, "As long as the Woogyman does not come out of the basement."

"That's not funny, Piper." Phoebe says as she pushes her sister playfully.

"It was to me." Piper laughs.

"It was all fun and games till the Woogyman tried to kill you and Prue, right?" Phoebe says.

"Yeah, after possessing you." Piper says.

"Okay" Paige interrupts with a clap, "So what is the plan for the evening?"

"What are the events for today?" Phoebe asks.

"Mani-Pedi, masks with cucumbers, mimosas and relaxation." Piper smiles as she closes the door and walks further into the house.

"What about the kids?" Paige asks.

"They're old enough to take care of themselves," Piper chuckles, "If they need anything, we'll be one floor away from them."

"With the guys gone, I'm taking full advantage of our girls' night in." Phoebe says, giddy with excitement.

"I'm surprised they went to the game in this weather." Paige says.

"Well, after the stunt they pulled last week, this is an improvement and I can't get mad at that." Piper says as she walks into the kitchen.

"I'll make the avocado and honey face mask." Paige says as she begins to raid the fridge and cabinets, "Who got the drinks?"

"Oooh, ooohh!" Phoebe's arm shoots up in the air as she runs to the fridge.

"What am I supposed to do?" Piper asks whining in a childlike voice.

"I'm sure you'll find something to do." Paige says as she grabs bowls from the cabinet.

"Make finger sandwiches or something." Phoebe adds as she looks through the fridge, "Do you have any pineapples?"

Piper folds her hands and sighs deeply.

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 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

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STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Dorian Gregory

Created by: Constance M. Burge

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Sitting in the Oracle Arena surrounded by tens of thousands of fans, Leo, Coop, Henry, Darryl and Victor screamed and whistled and cheered as if they were in competition to see which one of them could cheer the loudest. After waiting in line for hours out in the freezing cold weather, the loud and passionate fans grew rowdier when the teams came out of their locker rooms aggressively and sat on the bench.

The starting five from the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers took their positions on the court and the cheers grew louder as the referee threw the perfectly orange rubber ball into the air, causing the two opposing players to leap into the air for the tip off.

"Can you believe how close we are to the courtside?" Henry screams to Leo as he leans in his direction.

"What?!" Leo yells without taking his eyes off the game.

"I SAID I CANNOT BELIEVE WE ARE TWO ROWS AWAY FROM THE COURTSIDE!" Henry screams once more.

"Yeah, tell Victor. He has connections with the GM of the Warriors and I can't say that I'm surprised." Leo responds as he screams.

"Thanks for inviting me, man!" Darryl says to Victor, "I needed a guys' night off."

"We all did." Victor says still watching the game as he jumps up and screams, "NO! COME ON! What the hell was that?!"

"But to score the playoff game tickets for the Warriors and Cavs? That's a gold mine right there." Darryl says.

"I'm very good at my job, Darryl." Victor replies, "And when you're good at your job, perks like these are quick to follow. Enjoy it, son."

"Ha! Say no more!" Darryl says as he cheers loudly at the Warriors scoring another point.

"How are you holding up, Coop?" Leo asks.

"I'm okay. I'm just worried about Phoebe and the girls." Coop says.

"Why?"

"It's in my nature. Can't help it." Coop answers.

"You're only away from her for the night. Enjoy your time away. Trust me, you'll look back on this day and be glad you did." Henry interjects.

"I guess you're right." Coop says.

"I know I'm right." Henry says as he shoves a jumbo sized drink in Coop's hand, "Eat, drink, be merry and you'll be fine."

Coop nods with a smile and turns his eyes on the basketball court.

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Mellie and Paisley sit on her bed while Gabby braids Penny's hair on the floor.

"Did you get an invite to Missy Taylor's birthday party next weekend?" Penny asks.

"Missy's having a birthday party?" Mellie questions.

"I'm guessing that is a 'no'." Gabby assumes.

"I don't get it." Mellie wonders, "Missy and I were always cool. I don't understand why she hates me all of a sudden."

"When did you start noticing that she couldn't stand you?" Gabby asks.

"I don't know. She started helping me with my campaign ideas when I started to run until…"

"Until you asked Tricia to help you." Penny says, finishing Mellie's sentence.

"Wow." Mellie whispers.

"Ok, I'm done, Penny." Gabby says, as she hands Penny a mirror.

"You, my dear sister, are a godsend." Penny squeals, clearly elated about her hairstyle.

"Can you do mine next?" Paisley asks.

"Grab a pillow and take a seat." Gabby smiles.

Paisley jumps off the bed and sits in front of Gabby. Gabby grabs a brush and begins to brush Paisley's hair.

"Speaking of Tricia, where is she and where's Paris?" Penny asks as all eyes fall on Paisley.

"I don't know." Paisley answers.

A knock on the door is heard and the door creaks open. Tricia stands in the doorway with Paris standing behind her.

"Speaking of the devil…" Penny whispers.

"Paisley, we need you downstairs…" Tricia says, looking at Paisley and trying her hardest not to make eye contact with anyone else in the room.

"I'm needed downstairs for what?" Paisley asks.

"For…um…" Tricia says as she begins to stutter.

"For setting up downstairs with mom." Paris says, finishing her sister's sentence.

"Right!" Tricia jumps in, "Mom needs our help."

"If that's the case, then we'll all come downstairs." Penny says as she stands up.

"No!" Tricia yells abruptly and then calms down, "I just want my sister, please."

Mellie raises her eyebrows while looking at Tricia suspiciously.

"But I want to stay here." Paisley complains.

"Now, Pais!" Tricia reaffirms, with her voice getting sterner.

Paisley looks at her cousins and then sighs heavily as she stands up.

"I'm sorry, guys." She says dolefully as she drags herself out of Mellie's room. As Paisley walks out of the room, Tricia's eyes scan the room quickly for and her eyes meet Mellie's for a brief second. Tricia rolls her eyes and slams the door shut.

"Well, that went well." Penny says sarcastically.

"This is looking like it is going to be a fun slumber party." Mellie moans as she jumps out of her bed and sits in front of Gabby.

Gabby grabs the brush and begins to stroke Mellie's hair gently.

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Henry Mitchell Jr., the youngest child and only son of Paige Matthews was as innocent as a child can be. Everything about him exuded purity and virtue. Junior, as he was affectionately called by his family, couldn't tell a lie if his life depended on it.

His naiveté nature was the one trait he possessed his mother cherished the most about him. She always wanted to preserve his childlike innocence for as long as she could, often stating that the beauty of his innocence is a gift that rarely exists in the world nowadays. However, it was the one thing his father always wanted to change because he was afraid of the harsh realities of the world and in trying shedding that layer of his personality will prepare him for it and make him a better man because of it.

As naïve as Junior was, he was extremely clever. Not as intelligent as his oldest sister, Gabrielle, but diligent in school and extremely cunning in regard to common sense. Penny always tried to take advantage of her brother's innocuous personality but Junior's ability to think fast on his feet allowed him to outsmart his sister most of the time.

Junior stood by the heavy wooden door and gently tapped on it with his knuckles. He awaited an answer and pressed his ear to the door, hoping to hear an answer soon. After a few minutes had passed, he knocked on the door once more, but slightly louder and waited for a response.

"What are you doing?" Tricia asked, walking up to Junior surrounded by her sisters.

"I'm trying to see if Wyatt and Chris are in their room." Junior answers meekly.

"Most likely they are." Tricia says, "Come hang with us instead. It will be fun!"

"No offense but I live with and hang out with my sisters all the time. I just want to hang with the guys as much as I can, whenever I can." Junior answers.

"Suit yourself." Tricia shrugs, trying to hide her scorned feelings, "I doubt that two teenage boys in high school would want to spend time with their baby cousin who hasn't even cracked double digits in age."

"I'm going to be ten in a few months!" Junior screams as he watches the girls descend towards the living room.

The door knob wiggles and the door swings open with Wyatt standing there.

"What's up, Junior?" Wyatt asks, looking around and then fixates his eyes on his little cousin.

"Hey, Wyatt. I was just wondering if I can hang with you guys for a little bit. I don't really feel like being around the girls for the whole night." Junior says.

"Sure." Wyatt says as he steps aside, "Come on in."

Junior's eyes light up as he steps into the room and Wyatt shuts the door. Junior sees Chris sitting on his bed reading a book with his headphones in.

"Hey Chris." Junior waves, but Chris just glances towards Junior and gives him a quick nod.

"Don't mind him." Wyatt says as he grabs a pillow, "He's an ass whenever he's reading or studying."

Wyatt chucks the pillow towards his brother and hits Chris, whose book flies from his grip and hits the wall. The book slides into the crevice between his bed and the wall.

"What the hell did you do that for, Wyatt?!" Chris says angrily as he sticks his fingers in the crack between his bed and the wall, desperately trying to grab his book.

"Just because you are a dick." Wyatt laughs.

"Not funny, Wyatt." Chris says, hovering his hand over the dark corner and the book telekinetically shoots up into the air and Chris catches it.

Wyatt folds his arms and shoots a disapproving look at his brother.

"What? You're going to tell mom I used magic?" Chris says, mockingly.

"Whatever." Wyatt responds as he turns on the television.

"What are you watching?" Junior asks.

"Warriors vs. Cavs." Wyatt answers.

"That's where dad is!" Junior answers.

"Yeah, that's where all our dads are." Wyatt says, "You like basketball?"

"Kind of." Junior replies, "Do you mind if I watch with you?"

"I don't." Wyatt says as he hops onto his top half of the bunk bed. Junior orbs out and orbs back in, sitting next to Wyatt. Wyatt flashes a smile and then turns up the volume of the game.

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The spectators are screaming and tempers on the court are flaring with every buzzer and every whistle. The Cavs and the Warriors are neck and neck with their scores tied at the moment. Coop, Victor and Darryl are yelling on the top of their lungs but it is evident that their voices are fading from the excessive cheering. As the Cavs inbounds the ball, Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors steals the ball to make an open layup. The cheers in the arena soar as the announcer on the PA system comments on the move.

"Where are Leo & Henry?" Coop asks Darryl

"They went to the food stand to get some more nachos and drinks." Darryl answers.

Coop nods and continues to watch the game. A couple of men come in and sit down next to Coop, Victor and Darryl. Shortly after, Leo and Henry come down and notice the men sitting in their seats.

"Uh, excuse me…" Leo says as he taps one of the men on his shoulder, "That's our seat."

"I don't think so, buddy." The guy says as he takes a bite out of his hotdog, "This is our seat."

"I think you're mistaken. We came here with the people sitting next to you." Leo says, pointing to Victor and Coop, "We were sitting here."

"We got upgraded from our seat to this seat because the people who bought this ticket didn't show up." The guy says.

"Once again…" Leo says as he takes a deep breath and exhales sharply, "This is our seat. Look, we have the tickets to prove it."

Leo takes out his ticket and shows it to the guys. Henry does the same.

"For all I know, you guys just got here. It's too late now." The guy says.

"Ok, see he asked nicely." Henry says as he pushes Leo out of the way and walks forward, "That's our seat. You need to get up and get lost."

"Uh, Henry…" Leo begins to say as he feels the tension building.

"What are you going to do if we don't?" the guy asks as he stands up. His friend stands up with him.

"You really want to find out?" Henry says menacingly as he walks closer to the guy, staring angrily at him in a face off. Henry takes off his jacket and reveals the name "MITCHELL Sr." spelled out in big capital letters written on the back. He hands his jacket to Leo.

"Hey, what's going on here?" a security guard asks as he approaches the men.

"This dumbass is in our seat and he refuses to move." Henry replies without breaking his concentration.

"Let me see your tickets." The guard asks.

Henry smiles as he takes out his ticket and shows it to the guard. The guard looks at Henry and then at the guys.

"Sorry, fellas. According to this ticket, this is his seat."

"This is bulls…" the guy says angrily but his friend cuts him off.

"It's ok, Ryan. Let's just go."

"That's right!" Henry yells, "Get out of here!"

Ryan and his friend steps aside as Leo walks to his seat. Ryan drops his drink and spills it all over Leo's pants and shoes.

"You did that on purpose." Henry says angrily.

"Prove it." Ryan says in a whisper.

"Apologize to him."

"And if I don't?" Ryan asks with a wicked smile.

Henry hesitates and looks down. He looks back up at Ryan and shakes his head, "Never mind."

Ryan flashes a winning smile and begins to walk away when Henry slips and smears the cheese from his nachos over Ryan's jacket.

"I slipped on the drink that you spilled on the floor. Accidents happen, right?" Henry says with a smile.

"You did that on purpose!" Ryan says furiously.

"Prove it." Henry whispers back to Ryan mockingly.

In a split second, Ryan punches Henry and sends him tumbling backwards.

"Wait a minute…" Leo says as he tries to intervene but Ryan delivers another punch to Leo as he falls back into the chair.

Henry stands back up and rushes towards Ryan, tackling him to the ground. Coop and Victor try to grab Leo while Darryl tries to break up the fight.

"I'm a cop! I'm a cop! SFPD!" Darryl shouts as he sorts through the brawl.

The referee on the court blows his whistle, stopping the game. A group of officers approach the brawl, trying to diffuse the situation with little effect. The amount of people involved grows larger and larger as whistles and commands sound through the air.

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Piper, Phoebe and Paige lie down on their chaise lounge chairs wearing bathrobes; face covered in green masks, cucumbers covering their eyes, their hair wrapped up in a towel, with a glass of margarita in their hands. With the thunderstorm wreaking havoc outside oddly thrusted the Charmed Ones into a state of tranquility where nothing seems to trouble them.

"This is the life, isn't it?" Phoebe says as she takes a sip of her drink.

"It's all hakuna matata over here." Paige says with a smile.

"I wonder how long this will last before the kids come down here to interrupt us." Piper says with a worrisome tone.

"Wow, really Piper?" Phoebe says in disbelief.

"What?" Piper says in defense, "Are you telling me that thought hasn't crossed your mind?"

"Not tonight, it hasn't." Phoebe replies.

"Piper, the whole point of this was to relax and chill, you know?" Paige says, "So relax. Chill."

"You're right." Piper concedes as she takes a deep breath and takes a sip of her drink, "I'm relaxin'! I'm chillin'."

"Yeah, don't say it like that." Paige notes.

"I can't pull that off, can I?" Piper asks.

"Nope." Phoebe answers.

"So Paige, what's the status of the job thing? Have you decided what you're going to do about that?" Piper asks.

"Scott still works there; I'm going to talk to him to see if he will hire me." Paige answers.

"Scott, is he the one you magically stole his promotion until you grew a conscience and turned it down?" Phoebe asks with a smile.

"I didn't magically steal his promotion." Paige says defensively, "It was a personal gain consequence from casting the 'Vanishing Spell' on Caroline and I didn't even accept it."

"Right." Phoebe says with a hint of tease in her voice.

"Anyway, I am thinking about going to Mr. Cowan's funeral first before I do all of that. You know, to pay my respects." Paige says.

"I still cannot believe Mr. Cowan is dead." Piper says in a somber tone, "I always liked him."

"You met him once, Piper." Phoebe argues.

"What can I say? His first impression was very good." Piper lies.

"So Phoebe, are you excited about going back to work?" Paige asks.

"Well, yeah. Everything is falling into place; Mrs. Noble closed the deal on the house next door, I start working next week and I think I'm going to start writing my second book." Phoebe announces.

"You finally decided to write another one?!" Piper says with excitement.

"I mean, why not?" Phoebe says, "I have a lot more to say and more advice to give and the Bay Mirror alone is not going to cut it."

"Do you know what the title is going to be?" Piper asks.

"No, but I'll figure it out in time." Phoebe answers.

"Good for you, Phoebe!" Paige says as she congratulates her, "I'm sure it's going to be better than the first."

"Let's hope so." Phoebe sighs deeply, "So what's going on with you, Piper? What's the deal with the restaurant? Are you getting the deal to open a second one?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if I should."

"Uh, why not?" Paige asks.

"I don't know if I could balance the two restaurants and P3 all at once, you know? A chain of restaurants eventually lead to the major cities in California, then all over the country and then internationally." Piper explains.

"What's wrong with that?" Phoebe asks as she takes off the cucumbers on her eyes.

"I don't want to be commercialized and having my restaurant that expanded will make it happen." Piper says, "I want to stay authentic."

"Then keep your restaurant business in just San Francisco, then just California and then see how you like it and expand at your own pace." Phoebe advises, "Keep yourself in control, and don't relinquish control to the Man."

"The Man?" Paige laughs, as the cucumbers fall from her eyes and onto her chest.

"Yeah, the Man is real." Phoebe jokes and the sisters break into laughter.

"If anything, you can sell P3 if you become overwhelmed." Phoebe adds.

"I'm not selling the club!" Piper snaps.

"But Piper…" Paige begins to say but Piper is not trying to hear it.

"No. I'm not selling the club no matter what, and that's the end of it." Piper reaffirms.

"Okay." Phoebe relents as she looks at Paige. Paige gives Phoebe a mirroring look of worry and then both place the cucumbers back on their eyelids.

"Soooo….this is nice…" Phoebe reiterates once more, trying to break the tension.

"Yup." Paige adds.

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Tricia, Paris and Paisley sit in the living room, blankets everywhere with pillows piled on for comfort. The three sisters sit in a circle, trying their hardest to entertain each other.

"So Paris, it's your turn." Tricia says in a giddy voice, "Truth or dare."

"I don't want to play anymore, Trish." Paris complains.

" _Truth or dare…_ " Tricia asks again.

"Ugh…truth."

"What is the most embarrassing thing you have ever been put through?" Tricia asks.

"This game." Paris answers in a monotone voice.

"Come on, guys. We're all we have left and we have to make the best of it." Tricia pleads.

"Making the best of it includes the twins and Mellie, instead of being down here." Paisley says dejectedly.

"We're not doing anything with Mellie." Tricia spits out.

"Why? Because she won the election? Get over it, Trish." Paris says.

"She's a backstabber and she is not a very reliable and loyal person to have around." Tricia explains.

"I still do not see it. This feud between you guys is stupid and I don't know why we can't talk to her because you're in your feelings." Paris wonders.

"Because you're my sisters and we stick together. When one of us don't like someone, we all don't like that person." Tricia says.

"Says who?" Paisley asks.

"It's an unwritten rule of sisterhood." Tricia answers with an uneasy chuckle.

Mellie, Penny and Gabby can be heard laughing with music playing upstairs along with the guys cheering loudly watching the game.

"You know, if you listen close enough, you can hear what fun is supposed to sound like." Paris says sarcastically.

"See? They're having fun! I want to have fun!" Paisley groans.

"Fine, what about a fun game of ' _Would you rather_ '?" Tricia suggests.

"I would rather go upstairs and have Gabby do my hair." Paisley retorts.

"I don't like that we're all separated and stuff!" Paris adds.

"Ok. I have an idea." Tricia says as she stands up, "Follow me."

"Where are we going?" Paris asks.

"To make all of us come together." Tricia says with a devious smile.

Paris and Paisley look at each other and then jump up and follow their sister.

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With the combination of their laughter and music, the sounds of the thunder and lightning is drowned out as the girls play a musical game. The music they are playing are instrumental tracks in reverse.

"Rihanna?" Penny guesses.

"No!" Mellie laughs as she stops the music via iPhone, "You're wrong, it was Alicia Keys. Put the blind fold on her."

Gabby wraps a blindfold around Penny's eyes and they begin to spin her around and count out loud.

"18, 19, 20!" they scream as they run around the room, and hide.

"Clap two times if I am far away from you." Penny yells.

 _Clap clap…_

Penny giggles and walks closer to the closet door where Mellie is hiding. She stretches her arms and begins to feel the clothes, almost grabbing Mellie's hair. Mellie ducks and covers her mouth to keep from giggling.

"Clap three times if I'm far away from you." Penny asks.

 _Clap, clap, clap._

Penny races across the room and trips over a cord, falling flat on her face. Gabby giggles and Penny runs to the curtain where Gabby is hidden.

"I know you're here." Penny says gently as she pounces on her sister. In that instant, a flash of lightning and a rumble of thunder shakes the house and all the lights go off. Gabby and Mellie scream and Penny laughs.

"I know I am good, but I'm not that good." Penny jokes.

"It's not you. The lights went off." Mellie states as she walks out of her closet.

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As Wyatt and Junior cheer watching the game, Chris tries his hardest to avoid watching it but the commentary and the occasional shout and swearing from Wyatt has drawn him in. All three boys were watching the game, at the edge of the bed with their hearts in their throats.

"This is the most intense game I've ever seen." Chris shouts.

"It's crazy, right?" Wyatt expresses as he watches the game with great intensity.

Junior looks at Chris and Wyatt and then smiles quietly. Chris notices this and smiles back.

"What is it?" he asks.

"I'm just enjoying my time with you guys." Junior answers.

"You're okay to hang with." Wyatt says without taking his eyes off the television.

"Thanks, Wyatt." Junior says.

The camera from the television pans to the brawl taking place in the stands.

"What's going on?" Junior asks as he leans closer to the television.

"A couple of fans fighting in the stands." Wyatt answers.

"A couple of barbarians if you ask me." Chris chimes in.

"Hey, that guy has the same sweatshirt as my dad." Junior points out.

"Well, it's a fairly common sweatshirt, Junior. Your dad isn't the only one with a jacket like that." Chris says.

"But he is the only one with the sweatshirt with his last name on it." Junior says as he looks closer.

"How do you know that's him?" Wyatt asks.

"Because I have one just like it, only mine says 'Junior' instead of 'Senior'." Junior answers.

"Oh my God." Chris says as he walks up to the television, "That's dad!"

Immediately, the lights in the house shut off as the lightning lights up the room for a brief moment and the thunder shakes the house. Mellie and Gabby can be heard screaming in the distance.

"Oh great!" Chris sighs.

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As panic ensues in the Halliwell Manor in the darkness, the Charmed Ones try to gain control of the situation. Mellie, Gabby and Penny run down the stairs accompanied by Wyatt, Chris and Junior. As soon as they all arrive downstairs, the children scream at the top of their lungs.

"What?!" Piper yells, "Why the hell are you all screaming?"

"Because of your face." Junior answers.

"What is on your face, mom?" Wyatt asks.

"Ugh." Paige rolls her eyes, "It's an avocado mask. You guys cannot be serious."

"You know what? We'll go wash up and go check the circuit breakers. You guys stay here." Phoebe instructs.

"Can we come with you?" Wyatt asks, "You know to check the breakers."

"No, we got it." Paige answers.

"But we're the men of the house. We can take care of it." Wyatt says in a gruff voice.

Piper walks to her son and throws her arm around his shoulder and smiles "Don't do that."

"Do what?" Wyatt asks.

"Listen, son. Your last name is Halliwell. That came from your mother and aunts, your grandmother and her mother before that. Halliwell women have been taking care of business for years." Piper says as she pats Wyatt on his chest and then whispers, "We got this."

"Stay here and watch your cousins." Phoebe says, "That's how you can help."

The Charmed Ones walk away from the group of children and walk into the kitchen.

Wyatt turns around to face the rest of the Halliwell/Mitchell clan.

"Sometimes I wonder how we're related." Chris says, shaking his head with disbelief.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Victor, Darryl, Leo, Henry and Coop walk out of the Oracle arena with cuts and bruises. The occasional groans from their injuries can be heard as they walk through the parking garage searching for their ride.

"Well, that was fun, right?" Henry says with a feign smile.

"Fun for who?" Victor asks, "We got kicked out before the end of the second half."

"On the bright side, no one got arrested." Coop says, trying to remain optimistic.

"Yeah, thanks to Darryl." Leo notes.

"Look, I'm just glad no one got hurt." Darryl finally speaks up.

"I don't know about that." Henry winces as he touches his arm, "I think I broke my arm."

"I doubt it. Let me take a look." Leo says as he stops and looks at Henry's arm.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Henry asks suspiciously.

"I was a medic in the war before I became a whitelighter." Leo says proudly.

"And what war was that?" Henry asks.

"World War 2." Darryl laughs.

"Oh, no. Hell no." Henry says as he backs away from Leo.

"Just because it was a long time ago…" Leo begins to defend himself but Victor throws in his two cents.

"Yeah, 75 years ago…"

Leo shoots an angry glare towards Victor and then looks back at Henry.

"My point is, being a medic was like a riding a bike. I never forgot what I learned, even if it was 75 years ago." Leo reassures, "You'll be fine."

Henry looks at his other comrades and then at Leo.

"You trust me, right?" Leo asks.

"Damn it." Henry sighs, "Why do you always do that?"

Leo laughs and begins to examine Henry's arm.

"You only popped your arm out of your socket." Leo says.

"Great, now let's head to the hospital and have the doctors…"

"No need, I can pop it back in." Leo says.

"Wait a minute, Leo..." Henry says as he begins to panic.

"On three…" Leo warns.

"No, Leo. I don't think I want you to do this."

"One."

"Leo, no!"

"Two!" Leo says as he pushes Henry's arm into the socket. A crack is heard and Henry screams so loud, the echoes in the garage cause the car alarms to go off.

"What happened to three?" Coop asks.

"The pain is easier to deal with when you don't see it coming." Leo says with a smile as he nudges Henry, making him grimace in pain.

"You son of a bitch…" Henry says out of breath.

"Now come on." Leo says, "We can make it to the restaurant in time before the third quarter ends.

"I swear y'all are crazy." Darryl mutters to himself as he follows the crew to the car.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Prescott Street was plunged into darkness, the wind swirling and gusting with brute force. The sky was leaden with dark clouds and the boughs swayed and creaked, dancing in the dark in front of building 1329.

With a clap of thunder, the girls and Junior jump and release a little yelp as their terror grows inch by inch. Mellie sits next in between Wyatt and Chris with Gabby sitting on Chris' left and Penny sitting on Wyatt's right.

"How are you holding up?" Chris asks his sister to which all three young witches answer.

"Terrified."

"Just take it easy." Wyatt tries to comfort them, "Mom will come back and the lights will be turned on in a second."

"And what if she doesn't?" Mellie asks.

"We'll be here with you the whole time." Wyatt says with a smile that eases Mellie's fears a bit.

"Are you guys okay?" Wyatt asks looking at Tricia and her sisters.

"We're fine." Tricia answers quickly, "Thanks for asking."

Chris looks at Mellie and then looks at Tricia.

"Hey…" Chris whispers to his sister, "Is everything okay between you and Tricia?"

Mellie shakes her head in response.

"You guys are still not talking?" Chris asks in surprise.

"She's not talking to me." Mellie corrects his sentence, "I have no issue with her."

"Wow." Chris sighs.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige walk back into the living room with flash lights.

"Okay, we've got good news and bad news." Phoebe says loudly.

"What's the bad news?" Tricia asks.

"We cannot turn on the lights. The breaker alone isn't going to work. This is an issue for the electric company to fix." Paige says.

"And what's the good news?" Paris asks.

"The lights are out for the whole entire street." Piper says cheerfully.

" _That's_ the good news?" Chris asks.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it so we just have to make the best out of the situation." Phoebe says.

"I wish daddy was here, at least he could've fixed it himself." Mellie cries.

"Yeah well, daddy is out with your uncles and I don't think he will be able to make it all the way here in this weather." Piper states.

"Speaking of dad…" Junior begins to say but Wyatt and Chris cut him off.

"Are they coming back tomorrow?" Chris asks nervously.

"Yes?" Phoebe answers suspiciously.

"Great. Now what is the plan now that we're in a blackout for the night?" Penny asks.

"We spend time together as a family!" Piper exclaims.

"Yay…" the children say in unison, unenthused.

"Come on, guys." Phoebe says as she sits on the couch and Piper and Paige join her, "We can make it fun!"

"How, mom?" Tricia asks, "Without electricity?"

"We can tell scary stories and stuff." Paige suggests.

"Oh! That sounds like a good idea." Piper encourages, "Ok, who wants to be first?"

"Not me." Wyatt turns away.

"Me neither…" Chris says as he turns on his Kindle.

"Really?" Piper says, disappointed.

"This is going to be a long night." Paige sighs.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Weaving in and out of the traffic downtown, Leo drives his SUV through the puddles of rain collectively gathering on the street. The roar of his engine is muffled by the rumble of the thunderous weather directly above them.

"This can't be normal." Darryl says looking at the window, sitting in the front passenger seat, "It has been raining for a week and a half straight."

"I won't be surprised if a demon was behind it." Victor jokes.

"Do you think a demon is behind this weather?" Coop asks Leo, sitting between Henry and Victor.

"I don't think so but one can never know." Leo answers.

"What do you mean?" Victor asks.

"Whenever something catastrophic is happening that threatens to shift the natural order of things, the weather is one of the few ways Mother Nature or magic has in trying to notify us." Leo explains.

"Look at you guys talking about magic and demons when the people who deal with these matters are not here." Henry interrupts angrily.

"We're just having a discussion, Henry." Coop says, "We're not hurting anyone."

"Of all the subjects to discuss, demons and magic is the thing on the top of your list?" Henry asks.

"I mean we can talk about something else if you'd like, Henry." Darryl says trying to appease Henry but Victor interjects.

"Tonight was supposed to be relatively simple." Victor says, "Watch the game, go to the bar, drink a little, go to the casino and then have a little fun but we couldn't even get that right. I'm not surprised judging by the way you've been acting lately."

"Victor, you cannot even make that statement because you haven't been around for weeks." Henry says, " _You_ have been MIA on account of your new mysterious girlfriend who has you locked and hidden away for her own pleasure."

Everyone but Victor erupts into laughter as Victor sulks.

"Okay, okay. It's not that funny." Victor says.

"Come on, lighten up, Vic." Darryl says as he hits Victor in his chest, "It is a little funny."

"Well, that doesn't change the fact that every little thing triggers an angry reaction out of you, Henry." Victor says, silencing everyone in the car.

"Wait, what did you just say?" Henry asks, looking at Victor angrily.

"I'm saying that you always looking for a fight. Everyone has to walk on eggshells around you because you get angry easily. Tonight is a perfect example." Victor explains, "Are you sure you're not Bruce Banner?"

"Okay, let's drop a flag on the play and cool it right now, alright?" Darryl says trying to diffuse the situation.

"He didn't mean that." Coop whispers to Henry as he turns to Victor, "You didn't mean that, right?"

"The hell I didn't." Victor says out loud, "We got kicked out of the basketball game because of your hot tempered pride and ego."

"Leo?" Henry says in an eerily calm voice, "Pull over the car."

"I'm on the freeway, Henry. I can't really do that right now." Leo says.

"Leo, pull the damn car over right now before I smack Victor's head against the glass." Henry says.

"See? Why are you always angry, Henry? Any underlying issues you need to work through?" Victor taunts.

"Come on, Victor. That's low." Darryl says.

"Pull over the car now!" Henry says.

Leo doesn't answer. Henry takes off his seat belt and leans over Leo, grabbing the steering wheel.

The SUV swerves left and right and Darryl pushes Henry back as Leo finally pulls into shoulder of the road.

"Are you crazy?! What the hell is the matter with you?" Darryl asks.

Henry opens the door and steps outside into the rain. In a matter of seconds, he is fully drenched from head to toe.

"Where the hell are you going to go?" Coop asks.

"Anywhere but here!" Henry says as he begins to walk away.

"Henry!" Leo calls out but he receives no response.

"We can't let him go out by himself." Coop says, "I'll tail him. Call my cell if anything."

Coop says as he walks out of the truck.

"This is turning out to be a fun evening, isn't it?" Victor says sarcastically.

Leo groans as he rests his head against the steering wheel.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Yeah, we're fine. We're just having a little trouble with the electricity." Piper says, talking on the phone, "How's the game?"

"Uh, pretty interesting to say the least." Leo answers, still sitting in the car with Darryl by his side and Victor sitting in the backseat.

"I'm glad you guys are having fun." Piper says with a smile, "Can't wait to see you tomorrow."

"Same here." Leo replies, "You guys stay safe and call me if anything happens, okay?"

"Okay. I love you."

"I love you too." Leo responds as he hangs up the phone.

Piper looks at her sisters and then the children as she joins them in the circle.

"So who's going to tell the story?" Phoebe asks.

"Does it have to be scary?" Piper complains, "We deal with enough scary things in our lives as it is."

"It's not a sleepover if there's not a scary story to be told." Phoebe says; feeling a little bit perturbed for having to say that.

"Well then, Chris?" Piper says, looking at her son to begin, "You have any stories?"

"Nope."

"You must have one." Paige says.

"Why are you guys bothering me to tell a story so bad?" he asks.

"Because you're a bookworm and you have a good imagination." Piper answers.

"You know what?" Wyatt intervenes, "I'll tell a story."

"Yay!" Paisley screams and Paris laughs.

"Once upon a time…" Wyatt begins and Paige snorts out loud, trying to stifle her laughter.

"What?!" Wyatt asks, clearly annoyed.

"No scary story begins with ' _Once upon a time'_ " Paige says, laughing through her words.

"Fine…" Wyatt sighs with exasperation, "There were three brothers who lived together in a mansion. Their father just passed away a few months prior and they inherited his mansion but they had no idea their new home was haunted."

"Ooooo" Phoebe says, for dramatic effect.

"In the middle of the night, an earthquake struck their city and their house was turned upside down." Wyatt continues as his voice lowers, "The streets had large cracks that split the roads down the middle, the branches and leaves were scattered all over the yards. The boughs smashed the windows and windshields that were parked underneath the trees. Inside their mansion, the furniture was scattered about, the pictures hung upside down and the fixtures all over the house were tipped over or shattered."

Phoebe looks at Piper with a smile and Piper shrugs in response, both clearly impressed.

"When the brothers woke up in the morning, they set out to clean up the damage the earthquake caused. The oldest took the second floor, the middle took the first and the youngest took the basement." Wyatt says, "Little did they know that when the earthquake struck, an ancient evil that dwelled within the house was unleashed…"

"Wait a minute…" Phoebe whispers to herself.

"While the youngest brother was cleaning up the basement, the dark creature surrounded him and possessed him to use him to do his bidding, luring his victims to the basement to spread evil and violence into the world."

"What did you say was the title of this story again?" Piper asks.

"I didn't say…" Wyatt smiles.

"Where did you hear that story from?" Phoebe asks.

"I read it in a book." Wyatt says as his smile grows, "And I think you guys know which one."

"Okay, next story!" Phoebe shouts, trying to change the subject.

"Wait a minute, why can't we hear that story?" Paris asks, "It was getting good."

"Because it's a true story that your mom doesn't want to talk about." Chris says.

"Why not?" Tricia asks, as the curiosity in her begins to build.

"Chris?! Why don't you tell the next story?" Piper insists.

"I don't feel like it?" Chris says; his words void of emotion.

"Well, I wasn't asking." Piper says as her tone changes.

Chris looks at his mother and sees the seriousness in her eyes. He looks at his siblings and his eyes scan every single face staring at him in the dark living room.

"Fine." Chris sighs as he finally shuts off his Kindle and sits up, "If you want a scary story, I'll give you one but I can't make any promises."

"Have you ever heard of the hook man?" Chris asks.

The children shake their head in response and the adults murmur their negation.

"Long ago about 25 years back lived a man infamously known as the Hook man. He wasn't always known as the Hook man." Chris begins, "He was a soldier of the Army and had a wife and son."

"When he left to go on his final deployment, he got captured by the enemy and tortured. The word got back to his wife that her husband was captured and presumed dead so his wife killed her child and killed herself."

"Ok, Chris, that's enough…" Piper says, as she begins to feel uncomfortable.

Chris laughs and looks at his brother who laughs with him.

"Ok, mom. I'm done." Chris says.

"Good. Who's up for some sandwiches?" Piper asks as she stands up

"Me!" the children scream and shout.

"Ok, ok, calm down!" Piper laughs, "Paige, Phoebe, can you come help me?"

Paige nods as she stands up and she grabs Phoebe's forearm and helps her stand up as well.

"We'll be right back." Piper says, as she walks away with her sisters.

"No more stories!" Phoebe shouts as she walks away.

"That was a good one." Wyatt laughs.

"Should we finish?" Chris asks.

"I don't see why not." Wyatt answers, "I'll take over."

Chris nods and smiles. Wyatt grabs the flash light, turns it on and begins to continue Chris' story.

"When the Hook man was rescued, he came back with one hand; chopped off by the insurgents. He was sent home and it was there he found out what had happened to his wife and son. He went mad with grief and locked himself in his house for the rest of his life. Legend has it that when night falls, he comes out of his house and hunts for children to replace his own." Wyatt says in a low voice.

"When the night falls, the Hook man visits house to house and takes as many children as he can."

A dark shadowed figure approaches the girls and Junior sitting in a group, watching Wyatt and Chris tell the story.

As the figure approaches, Wyatt's voice gets more hauntingly, "He begins his rounds when the clock strikes midnight; and when he sees a child he wants to capture, he sinks his hook into their skin and drags them off to his lair…"

The shadow figure raises his arm and the moonlight shines on his hooked-replaced hand.

"And you know what the scary part is?" Chris asks.

"What?" Junior says in the most innocent tone as a child can ask.

"He's right behind you!" Wyatt whispers.

All the children turn their eyes to the shadowed figure and see the Hook man behind them, positioned to strike.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

The screams of the younger Halliwell children fill the Manor and the figure disappears in a bright light. Piper, Phoebe and Paige run into the living room in a panic.

"What?! What happened?" Phoebe asks, slightly out of breath.

"The hook man!" Paisley replies, on the brink of tears.

"The hook man?" Paige asks in confusion as she looks at her nephews. Wyatt and Chris erupt into uncontrollable laughter as Chris falls out of his seat in tears.

"What did you guys do?" Piper asks as she folds her arms.

"Nothing…" Wyatt says, laughing through tears, "Just trying to have some fun."

"The hook man was right behind us." Junior says in fear, "Then he disappeared when you guys came out here."

"Did you conjure up a hook man?" Phoebe asks.

"I'm sorry." Wyatt continues to laugh, "I know we're not supposed to use magic but I couldn't help it."

"How would you feel if someone tried to scare you like this?" Paige asks, "Would you feel better if they were laughing?"

"It won't happen because nothing scares me." Chris boasts and Wyatt joins in.

"Me neither." Wyatt says through his laughter.

"That wasn't funny, Chris." Mellie says with a frown.

"Come on, you have to admit it was a little bit funny." Wyatt says as he wipes the tears from his eyes.

"That's it." Piper snaps, "You both are grounded for two weeks."

"But I just got off punishment last week!" Wyatt says in shock.

"And why am I getting grounded for? I didn't conjure up the hook man!" Chris says.

"Well, you obviously found it amusing to scare your cousins so you both can share the punishment." Piper says as she leads the kids into the kitchen, "Come on, kids. The sandwiches are ready."

"That's not fair!" Chris whines, "I always get in trouble whenever I'm around you."

Wyatt scoffs and folds his arms angrily. Standing outside in the pouring rain is a mysterious man, wearing black from head to toe. His hooded jacket shielded his face but it didn't impair his view, standing on the sidewalk watching the Halliwell manor.

TO BE CONTINUED


	13. 10x07: Are You Afraid of the Dark? (2)

_Author's Note: A huge shoutout and a thank you to amyramiaarisa,_ _quynhlon20042000_ _for the follow and_ _quynhlon20042000, mcv1995 & annaflorinda_ _for the fav_ _. Welcome to my version of the Charmed universe. Thank you for following my vision thus far. I hope you guys (the readers) enjoy the conclusion to this episode. It was more fun writing it than I thought I would. Once again, thank you guys for reading. It's greatly appreciated._

 _-KingKenfordIV_

* * *

 **10x07: Are You Afraid of the Dark? (Part 2)**

In the restaurant that is _Halliwell's_ , the pink light pierces the dark atmosphere, accompanied with a heart shaped glow, disappearing as quickly as it appeared.

"Where's the light in this place?" Henry's voice can be heard saying in the pitch blackness.

"Uh, I don't know." Coop's voice is heard answering as his footsteps shuffle around the restaurant. A loud bang is heard and Coop winces in pain.

"Are you okay?" Henry asks, "That sounded painful."

"I'll be fine." Coop says with a strain in his voice. Coop's ring flickers and a bright pink light illuminates from it, breaking the complete darkness surrounding them.

"That's much better." Coop sighs happily.

"That's great and all, but I don't want to be sitting here in a room with pink lights. It makes me feel like I'm in a whore house." Henry says.

Coop laughs and shines the light alongside the walls and ceiling. He traces the cables to the backroom of the restaurant. He finds the switchbox and flips on all the lights.

The neon sign flickers and lights up, reading " _Halliwell's._ "

"That's much better." Henry sighs, "I just need to get out of these wet clothes."

Coop waves his hand at Henry and his clothes dry up instantly.

"Gee, thanks." Henry says apathetically.

Henry grabs a couple of stools sitting on the bar and sets it on the floor. He takes a seat and shortly after, Coop joins him. Facing the flat screen television, he grabs the remote from behind the bar and turns on the television.

"Hopefully the game isn't over yet." Henry says, crossing his fingers.

"You want something to drink?" Coop asks his brother in law.

"Yeah, sure. If you know where to find the brews." Henry says.

Coop waves his hands and two cold beers materialize.

Henry sighs heavily and uses his teeth to open the beer. He opens Coop's as well and finally flips the channel to the basketball game.

"Are you okay?" Coop asks him as he takes a sip of his beer.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Henry answers, "Victor just doesn't know what he's talking about."

"I'm not so sure about that." Coop says gently.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Henry asks with his agitation growing in tone, "You're choosing his side too?"

"Oh, no." Coop recoils, "Just making an observation."

"And what exactly is your observation, Dr. Coop?" Henry asks sarcastically.

"Are you going to get mad if I tell you the truth?"

"That depends on the answer."

"And that kind of response is the reason why Victor said what he said. I'm not going to try to pretend I know what you're going through but I just want you to let all this pent up frustration go. You don't have to talk to me but please talk to someone." Coop says, "It's not healthy."

"I'll consider it." Henry says as he flashes a weak smile. Coop nods at Henry in return

Henry takes a deep breath and sighs heavily. He takes a sip of his beer and turns his focus back on the game.

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The pitter patter of the rain continues to drum heavily on the Halliwell Victorian manor cast in the gloomy darkness. Within the manor, the children march into the living room with their full bellies and loud burps and belches as confirmation.

"Ok, now it's time to get ready for bed." Piper announces.

"Mom!" Mellie whines, "But it's a Friday night!"

"If the lights were on, then maybe but it's almost midnight. It's way past your bedtime." Piper says as she runs her fingers through Mellie's hair.

"Can we at least sleep downstairs?" Paisley asks.

"Sure, if Mellie wants to sleep down here with you guys." Phoebe answers.

"If she sleeps down here, can we sleep in her room?" Tricia asks.

"No. You all will sleep in the same place." Phoebe says, putting her foot down.

"Damn it!" Tricia mumbles under her breath.

"What did you just say?" Phoebe asks as she walks closer to Tricia.

"Nothing, mother." Tricia says as she rolls her eyes.

"What about me? Can I sleep with Wyatt and Chris in their room?" Junior asks.

"It's up to them, sweetie." Paige answers.

"Sure." Chris says, "I guess we'll make room for him."

"Why don't you stay down here with us?" Mellie asks Chris.

"No, Mel." Chris answers, "Why sleep on the floor when we have a comfortable bed upstairs waiting?"

"Because we might need you guys to protect us from the Hook man if he comes back." Mellie states.

"You know he isn't real, right?" Wyatt says with a smile, "We made him up and I conjured him."

"Just do this for me, please?" Mellie pleads with her brothers.

Chris looks at Wyatt and Wyatt sighs.

"It's just for one night." Wyatt says to Chris.

"I guess…" Chris moans.

"Thank you, thank you!" Mellie says jumping up and down, "I think I got a sleeping back upstairs. Penny, Gabby, can you help me get the blankets?"

Penny and Gabby nod happily and run up the stairs.

"Tricia, are you going to help them?" Phoebe asks.

"Nope. They look like they've got it." Tricia answers.

"Okay." Paige whispers as she turns around and walks back towards the dining room.

"I guess we better head up and bring some of the blankets down here for the sleepover too." Wyatt says.

Chris and Junior agree and run up the stairs together. Piper watches the boys talk excitedly as they race with each other and smiles happily.

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The traffic throughout the city subsided with the passing of every hour; however the rain was relentless, making a smooth fifteen minute transit through the city multiply three times more. Leo was stuck on the bridge, crossing back into San Francisco; moving a few inches every couple of minutes.

"This is ridiculous!" Darryl groans, "By the time we get to the restaurant, the game will be over."

"At this point, I just want to go home and fall asleep." Victor yawns.

"If Coop were here, we could've parked right when we got into the city by Henry's and then beamed us to where we needed to go." Leo says.

"Are you sure Henry would like that? I mean he did flip out at the mere mention of magic earlier." Victor asks.

"Do you have to be an ass? Or is that who you really are?" Darryl asks.

"What?" Victor asks, not exactly seeing Darryl's point, "I'm just stating the obvious."

"You know we have all been hanging out together a lot lately and Henry's temper hadn't become a problem until last week. No one spoke on it until you did." Leo says.

"That just makes me a good friend and you guys lousy ones." Victor says.

"No, Henry's the type of person who would come to us in his own time whenever he has a problem. He grew up alone so he has never had someone in his corner whenever he was sorting something out. We give him time to deal with his problems and then swoop in if need be." Leo says gently.

"And you know this how?" Victor asks.

"Because I know him." Leo answers.

"Everyone handles their issues differently, Victor." Darryl interjects, "You didn't have to be a dick about it."

"His _issues_ got us kicked out of the game!" Victor says, trying to assert his point, "How do you not see that?"

"The whole point of the game was for us to hang out and have a bonding experience." Darryl says, "If the game is more important, then you're more messed up than any of us thought."

Victor looks out of the window, buried in deep thought as he sighs heavily.

"What do you think I should do?" he asks.

"I hear starting with an apology works wonders." Darryl says.

Leo and Victor burst out laughing.

"Ok." Victor says gently.

Leo drums his fingers on the steering wheel happily and then grabs his phone. The phone rings via Bluetooth and with a click, a male voice answers.

"Coop?" Leo asks.

"Hey, what's going on?" Coop answers.

"Where are you guys?" Leo asks.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The clock in the Manor finally strikes twelve and the Charmed children slept in the middle of the living room floor. The twins were snoring loudly with a coordinated effort; one breathing in and the other breathing out. Chris slept on his back on one side, his arms folded with his headphones in his ears, blasting music and Wyatt slept right beside him, wide awake tossing and turning.

"Chris!" Wyatt whispers to his brother, who doesn't even move a muscle.

"Chris! Hey!" Wyatt whispers a little louder. Wyatt scoots closer to Chris and yanks the headphone out of his right ear, prompting Chris to open his eyes.

"What?!" Chris whispers with his frustration lingering in his eyes.

Wyatt hesitates for a brief moment and then whispers to his brother, "I can't sleep."

"Seriously?" Chris says in an annoyed voice, "That sounds like a personal problem for you."

"It's hard to sleep with the twins snoring so loudly. How can two little girls make so much noise?" Wyatt asks.

"The same way a fourteen year old teenager can be selfish enough to keep everyone else away just because he can't sleep. Go to sleep, Wyatt!" Chris says as he turns over.

"Hey, guys?" Tricia whispers.

"What's up?" Wyatt asks as he turns to Tricia.

"Where's Paisley and Paris?" she asks.

"What do you mean? They were right next to you." Wyatt answers.

"No. They went to go use the bathroom and never came back." Tricia says.

"How long ago was that?" Wyatt asks.

"About thirty minutes ago." Tricia answers with worry, "Can you guys come with me to search the house for them?"

"Why don't you ask Mellie?" Wyatt asks.

"I'm asking you." Tricia snaps back.

"Ok, fine. Let me get Chris." Wyatt whispers and turns to his brother, "Chris!"

"I swear to God, Wyatt. I'm about to orb you into the middle of the street and ward this house from your magic!" Chris threatens.

"Paris and Paisley are missing. We have to go find them." Wyatt whispers to him.

"What do you mean ' _missing'_?" Chris says as he clears his throat.

"Like they went to the bathroom 30 minutes ago and didn't come back." Tricia answers.

"We should go tell mom and aunt Phoebe and Paige." Chris suggests.

"No, we should go look for them first before we wake them up. Maybe it's not that big of a deal." Wyatt states.

"Okay." Chris sighs as he stands up and tip toes around his sleeping cousins. Wyatt and Tricia join him and head towards the kitchen.

"Where should we head to first?" Wyatt asks.

"Um, the bathroom?" Chris answers, "We should split up. You stay downstairs and check the downstairs bathroom and Tricia and I go upstairs to check the bathroom up there."

"Nope. Not doing it." Wyatt says, "Every time a group splits in a scary movie, everybody dies."

"Is he serious?" Tricia asks Chris in a questionable tone.

"Unfortunately yes." Chris answers as he walks past Wyatt, "Come on."

As Chris, Tricia and Wyatt walk away, a dark, shadow figure materializes in the living room, standing over the sleeping children.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Ok, now I'm worried." Chris says as he returns to the living room with his brother and cousin. He sits on the couch with Wyatt and Tricia, "We've checked every room and every bathroom and nothing."

"And you weren't worried before?" Tricia asks, trying to understand his statement. Wyatt looks around suspiciously.

"I was a little worried…" Chris stammers, "But now, it's full blown worry now."

"Should we get the grownups now?" Tricia asks.

"No. Let's check the basement first." Chris says.

"Why would they go to the basement?" Tricia asks with an attitude.

"Because we have searched everywhere besides the basement and there's no sight of them?" Chris answers. Wyatt's current behavior catches Chris' attention.

"I still think we should let our parents know." Tricia repeats as she leans back into the couch.

"What are you doing?" Chris finally asks Wyatt.

"Have you noticed that it has gotten really quiet lately?" Wyatt observes.

"There's something called the 'nighttime' where homo sapiens usually sleep at night to recharge for the next day?" Tricia says sarcastically, "The minimal activity of humans usually leads to the silence that currently baffles you."

"Thank you for that unnecessary explanation." Wyatt says as he rolls his eyes, "That's not what I'm talking about."

"I don't follow." Chris answers, "What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about a few minutes ago, I couldn't sleep because the twins were snoring so loud and now?"

"Silence…" Chris finishes Wyatt's sentence. He leaps towards the spot where Penny and Gabby slept and takes off their covers only to find their spots empty.

"Oh dear God." Chris whispers.

"Can we tell our parents now?!" Tricia exclaims with fear.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Leo walks into the restaurant with Victor and Darryl behind him. He sees Coop and Henry sitting by the bar, drinking and watching the television. The laughter between the two men filled the silent, empty restaurant but it was the first sign of happiness any of them had experienced in the past few hours.

Leo approaches them and immediately, Henry places his hand on Leo's shoulder as he greets him.

"Leo!" Henry says with his speech slurred.

"Hi, buddy." Leo says with a feigned smile and laugh, "How much have you had to drink?"

"Relax, Leo. I only drank a few beers and had a couple of shots." Henry answers as he looks at Coop, "Don't worry. I'll compensate you for the beers….and shots."

"Not necessary." Leo says, "I'm just glad you're not in a bad mood anymore."

"Yeah…" Henry whispers as Victor and Darryl finally join them, "Hopefully that lasts for the rest of the night."

"Hey, uh Henry…" Victor says as he clears his throat, "Can I have a word with you?"

"Are you going to tell me how horrible of a human being I am again?" Henry asks.

"No." Victor chuckles uncomfortably, "No, I'm not."

"Let's just give them a couple of minutes, okay?" Leo says to Coop, as he nods his head away from their direction.

Coop stands up and walks away with Leo and Darryl, leaving Henry with Victor.

"So um…I just wanted to apologize for the things I said to you earlier…" Victor begins.

"No big deal, Vic. We're cool." Henry says as he takes a sip of his drink.

"If it were no big deal, you wouldn't have lost it like that." Victor speaks calmly as he scoots closer to Henry.

"You wouldn't understand." Henry mumbles.

"Try me." Victor says.

"Are you sure? It's a magical issue and I know how much you hate talking about magic things." Henry warns.

"I have daughters who are magic beings and I have grandchildren who are magical children. I think I will be fine."

Henry takes a deep breath and stares at Victor. Victor stares back at Henry with a look of apprehension swimming in his eyes. Henry sighs and then begins.

"I know this may be a selfish thing to say but I don't how I feel about this whole magic thing."

"What do you mean?" Victor asks.

"I mean, I don't know how to explain…" Henry pauses, "I signed up for this marriage with the full knowledge of Paige being a witch. I get that but magic has robbed us of a lot of things that are supposed to come easy. Like the twins' couldn't have a normal birthday with their friends because according to Paige, their powers were advancing into a stronger stage and she didn't want to risk exposure. Or Junior couldn't play in the little league because he turned one of his teammates into a rooster by accident."

"Wow…" Victor gasps.

"I know it's selfish but I didn't have a normal childhood so I vowed to make sure my children will never be robbed of that."

"But they aren't." Victor says.

"But they are." Henry whispers, "They have to hide who they are to be normal but they cannot participate in normal activities because of who they are. This is all very exasperating."

Henry pauses and looks at Victor's blank stare.

"I was right." Henry says as he takes another sip of his beer, "You don't understand."

"I don't understand?" Victor begins, "You forget that I brought three girls into this world born with these powers. Let me tell you something, Henry.

Victor takes a deep breath and then starts to unfold.

"I married the girls' mother without knowing about any of this magic crap. I didn't find out about it until a demon broke into Prue's crib, trying to kill her. She was nine months old at the time. I was angry just like you. I married into a family where they were in constant danger because of who they were. I decided to stick it out for a few years because I loved their mother and I loved my girls. I tried to stay with them but the anger I had towards Patty and her mother was too great that after Piper was born, I started to distance myself from them. Did the girls tell you their mother had an affair? That's why we broke up and Paige was born?"

"Yeah, I heard something about that." Henry answers.

"That was a lie." Victor admits, "Patty didn't cheat on me. She didn't have an affair. I pushed her away because of this anger that I had towards her and the whole magic issue. It pushed her into the arms of another man, her whitelighter Sam."

"I had no idea." Henry says with a hint of sympathy in his voice.

"The resentment turned to regret after she died. If I let my love for Patty and my girls outweigh my anger, I would have been there to teach my girls and raise them and have the memories I missed out on. I might have been able to save Patty and Prue from their fates."

"That's my thing though." Henry says, "Magic killed Patty and Prue. How can you not be angry with that? That's my fear."

"I can't be angry because I chose to leave. If I stayed, I might have been able to save them. You were dealt with a different hand than I was." Victor says.

"How so?"

"Paige was upfront with you about her magical roots. She told you she was a witch, she told you about the dangers that came with it and she tried her best to help you understand what was coming and what she was dealing with." Victor says, "You can be angry but talk to your wife about your issues and let her help you deal and come to terms with them. You need to embrace that this is your children's lives. I didn't and I paid the price dearly. The more you try to understand them, the less frustrated you will be about being in the dark. You will start to see things their way instead of seeing things the way you see them now."

"Do you still wish you were with Patty now?" Henry asks.

"Back then, yes." Victor confesses, "But I'm glad I didn't because then your wife wouldn't be here, would she?"

"You're right." Henry laughs, "Thanks for the talk, man. I really needed it."

"You know I'm here to listen. I'm the only one out of these guys who has been through this before. I'm just a call away."

"Duly noted." Henry says with a smile.

"Are we all set now?!" Darryl screams from the other side.

"Yeah, we're good." Henry answers.

Leo, Darryl and Coop walk closer to Henry and Victor.

"You get everything off your chest?" Coop asks.

"Uh, yeah." Henry sighs, "I did."

"Great." Leo says as he looks at his watch, "Although, I think the game is over now."

"It's been over for an hour now." Victor says.

"Well, I recorded it on DVR on here just in case so…" Henry says as he turns on the television.

Cheering and hollering, Leo and the rest of the guys grab stools and sit alongside Henry. On opposite ends of the bar, Victor glances over at Henry and Henry stares at Victor. They share a warm smile and continue to watch the basketball game.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In the darkness of the Halliwell Manor, Chris paces back and forth while Tricia and Wyatt argue and panic.

"Ok, pacing back and forth is not going to help, Chris." Tricia whispers.

"We have to take care of this problem ourselves." Wyatt whispers back.

"We don't even know what ' _this problem_ ' even is." Tricia says.

"She's right. We have to tell them because we don't know what's going on." Chris says as he continues to pace back and forth.

"Are you serious right now?" Wyatt asks Chris in disbelief. Chris stops pacing and faces his brother.

"Ok, how do you propose we find them, huh? We have tried sensing them and that hasn't worked." Chris says.

"Fine." Wyatt gives up. He stands up and the three witches walk towards the bannister.

"Wait a minute! We can't leave them here." Chris says, "One of us has to stay."

"I'll stay." Tricia volunteers.

"I don't us to split." Wyatt says.

"I'll wake up Mellie and Junior. I won't be alone. I'll be fine." Tricia says.

Chris takes a deep breath and looks over to the pile of blankets where Mellie and Junior lay.

"Ok." Chris says as he turns to Wyatt, "Let's go."

Chris walks up the stairs and Wyatt follows him. Tricia walks away to the living room and kneels beside Mellie and Junior. She looks down at them and sighs.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Do you think that this was a great idea that we left them down there by themselves?" Wyatt asks his brother as he approaches Piper's bedroom door.

"She's right. There's three of them downstairs. I think they will be fine." Chris answers as he gently knocks on the door and opens the door.

"You didn't wait for an answer." Wyatt whispers.

"We don't have time for pleasantries right now." Chris says as he walks in. Wyatt looks back and then walks into the room.

Piper sleeps peacefully in her bed as Chris and Wyatt walk up to her.

"Mom." Wyatt whispers.

"Mom!" Chris yells, causing Piper to jump up and Wyatt to scream.

"Jesus!" Wyatt screams, "You couldn't shake her awake or something?"

"Mom, we have an issue downstairs." Chris breaks it to her.

Piper rubs her eyes and sits up.

"What kind of a problem?" she asks with a croaky voice.

"Something is going on downstairs, mom." Wyatt joins in, "Paris, Paisley and the twins are missing."

Piper's eyes suddenly widen and she sits up.

"They're what?!"

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Wielding a flashlight to illuminate their path, Piper walks down the stairs with her sons Wyatt as anxiety flashed through their body constantly. With every step they took, their heart beat faster and faster as they inched closer to the living room. They arrive to find Tricia sitting on the floor with Junior and Mellie by her side.

"What the hell is going on?" Piper asks waving the flashlight , "Where are your sisters and cousins?"

"That's what we'd like to know." Tricia replies, "Where's my mom and Aunt Paige?"

"They're sleeping in the guest bedroom. I'm not going to wake them unless it's absolutely necessary." Piper answers.

"So what's going on again?" Junior asks.

"Your sisters and my sisters are missing." Tricia answers.

"So do we think a demon's behind this?" Mellie asks.

"No. Maybe it's the hook man?" Junior adds.

Everyone in the room stares at him with incredulity.

"Seriously?" Tricia shouts at him, "We're in a middle of a crisis and this is what you bring up?"

"It was just a suggestion." Junior defends himself.

"Well, it's a stupid one." Tricia shoots back at him.

"Ok, there's no need to be throwing insults at each other." Piper says as she tries to diffuse the tension.

"I'm just saying…" Tricia says as she continues to rant.

A dark shadow figure materializes behind Piper, Wyatt and Chris, who are all staring at Tricia, Mellie and Junior. With their guard down, they fail to realize the extra person in the room, slowly hovering towards them. The silver attached to the figure's hand glistens for a moment in the light shining from the flashlight and it catches Junior's eye.

"Anyway we need to figure out what is going on soon, I'm tired and I'm losing a lot of beauty sleep over this." Tricia says, finishing her rant.

"Wow." Mellie shakes her head, "Your beauty sleep is more important to you than the location of your little sisters. I am so moved."

"Are you okay, Junior?" Wyatt asks, noticing Junior's frozen stare and jaw dropped open. Junior slowly lifts his hand and point in their direction.

Mellie and Tricia look up as Wyatt, Chris and Piper turn around to face the figure behind them.

"The hook man?" Piper scoffs as she turns to face her children, "Seriously, Wyatt?! Didn't I tell you to stop with the pranks, conjuring and scaring the kids?"

"Uh, mom?" Wyatt says as he tries to find the words in his dried up mouth, "I didn't conjure that. Not this time."

The hook man raises his hooked hand and stabs Piper in the back. Screams can be heard as Piper gasps for air.

"Mom!" Chris screams as he waves his hand, trying to throw the hook man back with his power but the hook man disappears from sight in a blinding light.

"What the hell just happened?!" Chris questions in a panicked voice.

"Does my idea sound stupid now?" Junior says as he turns his head towards his cousin with a satisfied grin.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Chris, Mellie, Tricia and Wyatt march through the hallways of the Halliwell manor and the thunderous weather outside didn't soothe their nerves.

"What exactly do you think they can do without Aunt Piper?" Tricia asks, trying to catch up to her cousins.

"I don't know but we need help., and they can help us more than we can help ourselves." Chris answers as he telekinetically opens the door to the guest bedroom. Standing over a sleeping Phoebe and Paige was the Hook man.

"No!" Wyatt screams as he holds out his hand and a force field shoots out and knocks him backwards. The shield hovers over the bed and engulfs the sleeping sisters, protecting them from the Hook man. The Hook man stands up and walks closer to the shield. He carefully touches the shield with his hook and penetrates the shield with ease.

"What the hell!" Chris says, bewildered by what was unfolding before his eyes.

The Hook man hooks up Phoebe and uses his other hand to grab Paige. He looks up at the children standing by the door and in a gruff voice says, "I'll be back...for you."

With that statement, he disappears from sight.

Chris and Wyatt's eyes begin to be filled with fear as they stare at each other and then stare at Tricia.

"Ok, now I'm scared…" Wyatt

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Chris barges into the attic, speed walking towards the podium holding the Book of Shadows. Wyatt, Mellie and Junior follow closely behind him.

"Chris! Chris!" Mellie runs in trying to talk some sense into her brother, "You need to slow down and rethink this."

"Rethink what?" Chris stops in his tracks and turns around to face her, "I just saw a creature I created a few hours ago abduct our parents and cousins and you want me to rethink it?"

"That's exactly my point, Chris! This hook man is a figment of your imagination. How exactly are you going to vanquish it if it doesn't exist?" Mellie asks.

"I'm sure the Book of Shadows has something in there about this kind of situation." Wyatt answers for his brother.

"Chris…" Mellie says gently as she grabs her brother's hands, "You have read and studied that Book back and forth, cover to cover. You know that book better than anyone in this room. You tell me if there is anything that can vanquish an imaginary demon. If you can do that, I'll not hold you back."

The room is suddenly filled with silence with the roar of thunder and the howling of the wind serving as dramatic ambience the situation requires.

"You're right, but I don't know what to do." Chris confesses, "For the first time, I don't know what to do in a situation like this."

"We'll figure it out." Wyatt says as he walks closer to Chris and throws his hand around his brother's shoulder.

A flash of lightening lights up the entire attic for a brief second and as the attic becomes shrouded in darkness once more, the Hook man appears.

"Wyatt! Chris!" Tricia screams, pointing to the Hook man standing in the middle of the attic.

The Hook man waves his hand and throws Tricia, Mellie and Junior up against the wall.

"Leave them alone!" Wyatt cries as he waves his hand at the Hook man, as a wave emanates from his hand and knocks the Hook man backwards. He stands up and walks closer to the three pinned to the wall.

"Do that again and these three disappear for good." He threatens in a deep, eerie voice.

Wyatt looks at his brother for assistance but Chris shoots back a look of defeat and fear.

"Fine." Wyatt sighs.

The Hook man walks closer to Wyatt and Chris as the two boys shake uncontrollably. Wyatt closes his eyes, trying to avoid seeing what was about to happen next.

"I just have one question for you…" the hook man says as he reaches towards them with his hook hand, "Are you scared?"

"Yeah…" Chris says without hesitation, "Wait a minute, what?"

The hook man steps back and snap his fingers. In an instant, the electricity in the house turns on and the missing people begin to orb back into the attic. First, Phoebe and Paige orb into the attic, then Piper, Penny, Gabby and finally Paris and Paisley.

They all begin to laugh uncontrollably as they walk closer to the brothers.

"Wait, what the hell is going on?" Wyatt asks, confused as hell.

"Just decided to give you a taste of your own medicine." Piper answers, "It ain't so funny when you're at the receiving end of a prank, is it?"

"So this was an elaborate scheme from all of you guys to teach us a lesson?" Chris asks.

"Pretty much." Paige answers with a smile.

"How did you guys orchestrate this whole thing?" Wyatt asks.

Junior steps forward with a smile and takes a bow.

"It was all an illusion?" Chris asks.

"Most of it, yeah." Tricia laughs.

"Wow. That's messed up." Chris says, slightly embarrassed.

"I don't get it. The lights went out before I even told the story, or did you guys do that too?" Wyatt asks angrily.

"The lights came back on while we were sleeping. The twins and Junior helped contain the illusion and conjuring to the house with their powers." Mellie explains.

" _Et tu_ , Mel?" Chris whispers to his sister.

"I'm sorry Chris but this was necessary." Mellie laughs.

"What happened to your 'no magic' rule?" Wyatt asks.

"Well, you drew blood first and you had to be taught a lesson." Phoebe answers, "We got you though, didn't we? Come on, admit it."

"Fine, you did!" Chris screams with a smile, "Are you happy now?"

"That's all we wanted to hear." Paige says.

Wyatt looks at Chris and Chris shrugs.

"This is your fault." Chris says to him.

"How so?" Wyatt asks.

"If you didn't conjure the Hook man, we wouldn't have to be in this mess." Chris says.

"You're the one who told the story!"

"The story was scary by itself!" Chris argues, "The extra effects were not needed."

"I didn't see you complaining when I conjured him up though!" Wyatt says defensively.

The Charmed Ones and their children watch Wyatt and Chris argue. Piper nods to the kids, signaling them to leave the attic. Phoebe and Paige join them as they walk outside of the attic, with Wyatt and Chris still arguing.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The sky was low and dark. The thick cloud, grey as the stone pulled apart as the sun tries to emerge through. A curious feeling of relief filled the air as the heavy thunderstorm that tore through the city of San Francisco for the past two weeks had finally waned. Birds were beginning to sing, the branches on the trees were beginning to grow and with that, spring had finally come.

Leo's SUV cruises down Prescott Street and finally pulls into the driveway behind Piper's. The men jump out of the car and walk towards across the path leading to the front of the stairs. Leo opens the door and the men follow him inside.

"Daddy!" Paisley screams upon seeing Coop, running into his arms.

The Charmed Ones and their children walk towards the foyer with smiles.

"My baby girl!" Coop sighs happily, "How was the sleepover?"

"It was great!" Paisley exclaims, "It was so much fun!"

"Yeah, for you…" Chris mumbles.

"How was the game and how was your night out?" Phoebe asks as she kisses Coop.

"It was interesting to say the least." Victor says, looking at the other men.

"It was very therapeutic." Henry says as he hugs Paige and kisses her on the forehead.

"Really? Watching basketball and hanging out doing God knows what was therapeutic?" Piper asks suspiciously with a smile.

"Yeah." Leo smiles, "So I take it that Chris and Wyatt learned their lesson?"

"Wait, you knew about it?" Wyatt asks in surprise.

"Yeah, your mother called and told me about it." Leo answers with a chuckle.

"Do you know how emotionally scarring and traumatizing it was?" Chris shouts angrily.

"Why so serious, bro? Let it go." Mellie says as she nudges Chris.

Chris looks at his little sister and a smile grows on his face.

"So what did happen?" Paige asks Henry.

"It's a long story and I'll tell you about it later." Henry answers.

"So who wants breakfast?" Piper says as she turns away and walks towards the dining room. The children run after her as their parents walk behind them.

Mellie walks up to Tricia and taps her on the shoulder. Tricia turns to face Mellie and folds her arms.

"What?" Tricia asks with attitude.

"I know what you did." Mellie replies.

"What are you talking about?" Tricia asks.

"You are the one who caused the blackout with your sisters." Mellie says with a smile.

"See? There you go again; assuming and blaming people for things they didn't do." Tricia says as she flips her hair.

"If you wanted all of us to spend time together, all you had to do was ask. You didn't have to cast the entire neighborhood into darkness just because of pride." Mellie says.

"I still do not know what you're talking about." Tricia repeats once more.

"Okay." Mellie relents with a sharp laugh as she walks away, "Whenever you decide to stop being mad at me, you know where I'll be."

Tricia watches Mellie walk towards the dining room and rolls her eyes.

With Junior still standing in the foyer, he walks towards the open front door and grabs the handle in an attempt to close it. As he walks to close the door, he sees a man standing across the street, dressed in all black with a hooded jacket. Junior shivers at the sight of the strange man and slams the door shut. The man fixes his gloves, turns around and walks down the street.

FADE TO BLACK

END OF EPISODE

Guest Starring:

Ivan Sergei as Henry

Victor Webster as Coop

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Junior

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

James Read as Victor


	14. 10x08: We Are Not Amused (1)

_Author's Note: A huge shoutout and a thank you to 1joehz for the_ _fav_ _. Welcome to my version of the Charmed universe. Everyone who reads my stories are welcome and I really appreciate the outpouring views and reviews as the storyline progresses. I hope you guys are enjoying it thus far. As always, your reviews are encouraging and they are always welcomed._

 _-KingKenfordIV_

* * *

 **10x08: We Are Not Amused (Part 1)**

The moon hid behind the dark clouds hovering over San Francisco, but it didn't stop the moonlight from beaming brightly over the city. A change of scenery later, the Halliwell restaurant can be seen, lit up with numerous cars parked on the side and the valets standing outside, waiting for more guests to arrive.

The restaurant was full with nary an empty table in sight. An old couple sat on one side of the restaurant, eating side by side, one glass of wine each, studiously bent over their meals. A group of young women in their thirties sat on the other side, collapsing with helpless giggles as a stern woman dining alone nearby looked on and frowned.

Businessmen in their grey suits sat in the middle chatting up a storm, American tourists sat at a round table nearby trying to decipher the menu; and a family with their teenage children clapped loudly as one of the waiters delivered a sliver of cake with a birthday candle. The noise level was high, mixed with clinking of glasses, the scraping of the utensils on plates, laughter, conversation and perfect jazz music for ambience.

Sitting in a corner with her husband, Piper's eyes scans her restaurant and periodically checks her watch.

"Where are they?" Piper asks, "She said they were ten minutes away and it has been thirty."

"Do you want me to call them again?" Leo asks as he reaches for his phone placed on the table.

"No, I don't want them to think we're rushing them." Piper says.

"But we _are_ rushing them. They're an hour late." Leo says calmly but his impatience can be detected in his voice.

"I'll give them five more minutes and then we'll call them again." Piper says.

A few moments later, Phoebe, Coop, Henry and Paige speed walk towards Piper's table.

"We're here!" Phoebe waves as she walks faster with every step with a nervous tone, "We're here!"

"It's about time!" Piper blurts out, which makes Leo smile.

Coop and Henry draw out the chairs and Phoebe and Paige take their seats. Henry and Coop sit down shortly afterward.

"I'm sorry!" Phoebe smiles nervously, "We're sorry. We had to drive to Paige's to drop off the kids since they had a babysitter and we didn't. Kids, you know?"

"Yeah, I know." Piper says as she takes her napkin and places it on her lap.

"Paige, I love the hair by the way." Piper compliments her sister.

"Thank you, Piper." Paige says with a blush, "I really missed my long hair but this style agrees with me."

"I agree." Phoebe joins in, "The shaved sides? C'est magnifique."

"Well, I thank you!" Paige smiles.

A waiter comes to their table with a bottle of wine in a bucket of ice.

"The wine you ordered, Mrs. Halliwell." The waiter says politely as he places the wine at the center of the table.

"Thanks, Zach." Piper says, "I'll call you when we're ready to order."

Zach bows and walks away. Leo takes out the wine and pops it open. He pours a glass for himself and then for the rest of the people at the table.

"So before we order, I'll like to propose a toast." Leo begins as he raises his glass.

"Congratulations to Coop and Phoebe on closing the deal on their new home. I'm still kind of weirded out that it is a house that belonged to my wife's ex at one point in time but still…"

"Leo…" Piper laughs nervously as she nudges him.

"But you guys are going to be our neighbors and it's another step closer to bringing our family together so I'm here for it." Leo says as he raises his glass, "To Coop and Phoebe!"

"To Coop and Phoebe!" they all sound off in unison as they clink their glasses.

"And another toast to Phoebe…" Paige adds, "Tomorrow is your first day back at the Bay Mirror and I'm happy for you that you're finally going to be back where you belong. May San Francisco bask in your ever loving wisdom and may your advice make this world a better place."

"TO PHOEBE!" she shouts.

"To Phoebe!" they all repeat.

"Last but not least…" Coop interjects, "I would like to propose a toast to my wonderful wife."

"Coop…" Phoebe begins to say but Coop cuts her off.

"I fell in love with you the first day we met and every day since then has been like living in paradise. Tomorrow is our tenth year wedding anniversary and here's to an eternity more." Coop says as he raises his glass.

"Happy anniversary, Coop and Phoebe!" Henry screams.

"Happy anniversary!" the group toasts as they clink their glasses and sip their wine.

"What did Leo mean about his wife's ex? Did Piper's ex live in the house?" Coop asks.

"Mmm." Phoebe pauses as she swallows the wine, "It's a long story."

"It's not that long. Piper's ex lived in that house for a year." Leo comments with a fake smile, "See? Not that long."

"Is this going to be a problem for you? Because if it is, we'll gladly rescind and just find somewhere else." Coop offers.

"Oh, no. It's fine." Piper smiles nervously as she hits Leo in the chest playfully, "He is just being petty."

"Yeah, don't mind me." Leo says, "Just sharing facts, making sure no one is kept in the dark."

"Dan was a good guy. You just don't like him because he took me away from you." Piper says.

"Yeah, for a while because I was never around." Leo counters.

"You have to agree he was a nice guy at least." Piper says as she turns to Phoebe, "Dan was a nice guy, right?"

"Umm…" Phoebe stutters, "I guess?"

Leo laughs out loud.

"Well, you should know a good guy when you see one considering you were on a bad boy streak throughout up until your thirties." Piper snaps.

"Wait a minute…" Phoebe stammers, "What?"

"Come on, Phoebe." Piper laughs, "You went through that bad boy phase. My type never changed. Remember the ' _How to attract a lover_ ' spell we cast? The qualities you wanted in a man reeked of bad boy persona while mine was basically describing Leo."

"Really?" Paige says, intrigued, "Tell us more."

"I-I guess I had a bad boy streak but then I found Coop and everything was peachy. I was a different person back then." Phoebe giggles nervously.

"Hmmm." Henry smiles at Coop, who looks down in deep thought.

"Whooo!" Phoebe screams nervously as she begins to fan herself, "Is it getting hot in here or is it just me? Where's the waiter?"

"It's okay, Phoebe." Paige says, "It's all fun and games here."

"I know that…" Phoebe scoffs anxiously as she grabs her wine glass. She grabs the bottle of wine and pours the wine about halfway into the glass and begins to chug.

"Are you okay, honey?" Coop asks her as he watches her finish the glass.

"I'm starving. Is anyone else starving?" Phoebe says as she looks around, "Piper, can you call the waiter?"

Right on cue, Zach the waiter comes back to the table.

"Are we ready to place our orders?" he asks.

"Yes, thank God!" Phoebe says as she hides her face behind her menu.

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Across the city, police sirens broke the silence of the night as their tires screeched at every turn. The red and blue lights flashed brightly against the darkness as pedestrians ran across the crosswalk in order to get away. A young man runs into his apartment and shuts the door. He exhales loudly with his chest rising and falling very rapidly. The sirens draw closer and he begins to laugh to himself maniacally.

An African American woman materializes in the shadows, dressed in a light blue gossamer gown long enough to hide her sandaled feet when she walked. Her long black locks were blowing in the imaginary wind that was only available to her. She walks closer to the man, revealing herself to be transparent and apparently invisible to the human eye.

Darryl and his team run up the stairs and head towards the apartment. After climbing three flights of stairs, they arrive at a door with the number '3" centered in the middle.

"Jesse Desmond!" Darryl shouts, "This is SFPD. We have the building surrounded. We want to do this the easy way. Come out with your hands up and behind your head, and no one gets hurt."

Darryl pauses and waits for an answer. He looks back towards his team and then back towards the door.

Inside the apartment, Jesse closes his eyes as he begins to soak in the moment. The transparent woman walks closer to Jesse and hover her hand over his shoulder. Jesse's eyes open suddenly and fall into a trance-like state. Walking around calmly in his apartment, he begins to toss his belongings around, flipping furniture upside down and finally walks into his coat closet.

"Jesse?!" Darryl's muffled voice can be heard on the other side of the door, "Jesse!"

Jesse walks out of his closet with a red can and begins to douse everything in sight with the clear liquid pouring out. His face is void of emotion as he drops the can and looks around one last time.

Darryl standing outside of the apartment turns to his team.

"On the count of three, I'll kick down the door and we go in, copy?" Darryl announces to which his team repeat the final word back to him.

"Copy."

Darryl begins to sniff around and looks back.

"Do you guys smell that?" he asks.

One of his men point to the gap underneath the door and see white smoke gushing out.

"Stand back, I'm going in!" Darryl orders as he prepares himself to kick the door.

"But Captain!"

BANG!

With a precise and heavy kick, the door flies off the handing and a cloud of smoke charges towards Darryl and the SFPD. The apartment is filled with fire, growing by the minute. His team marches in with guns in arms.

"Find Jesse!" Darryl coughs as he searches for the young man.

"The flames are too much. We have to leave, sir!" one of the men shouts to Darryl.

After hesitating, Darryl backs out of the room with his men and looks back into the apartment, which has been completely engulfed in flames. Running down the stairs, Darryl bangs on every single door on the way down, warning the occupants of the fire occurring upstairs. He leads them all outside and then grabs his radio.

A crowd of bystanders gather outside of the apartment as their curiosity peaks as high as the rising smoke. The police forces try their best to hold them back.

"We have a code 447 with a possible 10-53. Please send the SFFD and ambulance to 359 Sheridan Avenue." Darryl says in a defeated tone.

"10-4" the voice on the radio replies

BANG!

Cries of shock and murmurs begin to buzz in the air as the final explosion on the highest floor of the apartment releases a bright orange fireball of a cloud.

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 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

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STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Dorian Gregory

Created by: Constance M. Burge

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As the sun sat beautifully on the horizon of the Pacific Ocean, its reflection gleamed across the water as if the sunrise was promising the city of San Francisco a perfect sunny day. The day in itself was postcard perfect, even the buses and the BART and the street cable cars were running on time.

Downtown, the skyscrapers shone silver in the morning sun and the sky was an unbroken backdrop of blue. Commuters walked like shoals of fish in a myriad of directions, not one of them in cold weather attire. Spring had finally arrived in San Francisco and for once it wasn't with a deluge of rain. The Victorian manor of the Halliwell family radiated in the sun's rays as Piper and Leo walked outside with their children.

Piper stares across her lawn to her right and smiles as she watches Phoebe and Coop walk out of their cream colored Victorian, as happy as they can be. Piper, Leo and their children walk to Phoebe's new house and Phoebe greets them cheerfully.

"Good morning!" Phoebe says with a wide smile as she hugs Piper and then begins to hug Leo and the children.

"Good morning?" Piper says questionably as she watches her sister's cheerful behavior, "You seem awfully chipper this morning."

"It's a beautiful day!" Phoebe says with glee, "When was the last time we had a great day like this? It had been raining all month with a few nice days in between but this is the fourth day in a row we've had with beautiful weather."

"I guess?" Piper says, still skeptical about Phoebe's behavior, "So I kind of woke up late today but I can whip up something quick for breakfast today if you guys have the time."

"That's not necessary." Phoebe says, "I was actually going to invite you guys to see if you wanted to come over for breakfast this morning. Something like a morning welcoming gathering type of thing."

"Really?" Piper asks in a surprised tone, "But you don't cook though."

"Oh, I know. I can't cook to save my life." Phoebe laughs, "Coop did."

Piper's eyes shift quickly from Phoebe to Coop in a quick second.

"Nice. I'm starving!" Leo says happily but Piper shoots Leo an angry look.

"I don't feel right eating without Paige and the rest of the family." Piper lies.

"No worries." Coop says with a smile, "Paige, Henry and the kids are already in the house."

"I guess we have no choice but to go in there to eat now, do we?" Piper says through gritted teeth.

"Come on!" Coops says as he leads them into the house. Piper sighs and drags herself into the house with Leo.

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The sound of cameras flashing and radio chatter fill the room of the burnt apartment building from the night before. Crime scene investigators and members of the SFPD dig through the apartment and yellow caution tape can be seen at every turn. Darryl walks into the apartment and he is offered a pair of gloves and boot covers before walking through the crime scene.

"Captain…" one of the detectives calls him as he walks closer.

"Brown. Talk to me." Darryl answers.

"There isn't a lot on Jesse that we don't already know," Detective Brown begins, "He's a comic sketch artist, has a mother in Oakland he visits every weekend, has never been in trouble before, not even a parking ticket. That's why it's really is baffling that he broke into the dealership and stole a Porsche and took it for a joy ride."

"Has his mother been notified of his death?" Darryl asks.

"Yes, she was notified this morning. She's on her way down now." Brown answers, "That's not the only thing…"

"What is it?" Darryl asks.

"The coroner found this symbol on his forearm…" Brown discloses to Darryl as he pulls out a picture of a quill branded into his charred arm.

"That's the…."

"Same symbol branded onto the last two suspects who died under similar circumstances." Brown completes Darryl's sentence.

"Can you have a copy of that sent to me as soon as possible?" Darryl asks.

"No problem, Cap." Brown nods as he walks away.

Darryl looks around and takes out his phone. With a press of a single button, he dials a number and awaits an answer on the other end.

"Come on, Phoebe. Pick up."

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Donning a white apron with the words "I'm with Cupid " embroidered on it; Phoebe sets a bowl full of red skinned roasted potatoes in the center of the table. The dining room table was decorated with different spreads of breakfast; scrambled and boiled eggs, bacon and sausages, a jug of milk, apple and orange juices, pancakes and waffles and French toast.

Piper watches as her children devour the food without chewing. There was a moment where Wyatt choked on a piece of waffle and scared the room for a split second but he waved at his family, signaling them to let them know he was fine. Piper's mind drifted into the distance while looking at Coop and Phoebe coming in and out of their kitchen with one bowl after the other. She hasn't taken a bite of food since she sat down but judging by the reactions from her husband and children, she imagined it was delicious.

Her daydream is shattered by the ringing of a phone sitting on the table next to her.

"Mom!" Paisley screams as she picks up the phone, "Uncle Darryl is calling."

Phoebe walks into the dining room and grabs the phone from Paisley.

"Hello?" she answers as she walks away.

"This is so good. I can't get enough." Wyatt says with his mouth full as he takes a glass of milk and chugs,

"Can you slow down? You'll choke again!" Mellie says with a smile.

"It wouldn't be the worst thing that would happen to this family if he chokes again." Chris jokes.

"That's not nice, Chris." Henry says in a mildly scolding tone.

Paige leans closer to Piper and whispers in her to her, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Piper whispers back, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're extremely quiet, your mind is wandering and you haven't even touched any of the food yet." Paige answers.

"I'm not too hungry…" Piper lies.

"Sure…" Paige sighs as she takes a sip of her orange juice.

Phoebe and Coop finally come back into the dining room and take their seats at the opposite ends of the table.

"Is everyone enjoying their meal?" Phoebe asks.

"Yeah, Uncle Coop out did himself!" Wyatt compliments.

"Thank you!" Coop nods with a smile as his eyes turn to Piper, "Piper? What do you think?"

"What do I think? Why does it matter what I think?" Piper asks, rambling nervously.

"You're the chef. I just need to know if I did well or not." Coop says as he chuckles anxiously.

"Ha ha ha…" Piper laughs nervously, "It's great."

"Piper, you haven't even taken a bite." Phoebe says as her smile begins to subside.

Piper grabs her fork and digs it into the scrambled eggs. As all eyes watch her take a bite, the table waits with bated breath to see her reaction and hear her opinion.

"This is good." Piper says with a mouthful as she swallows, "It's really good."

"Thanks, Piper!" Coop says with excitement, "It means a lot coming from you."

"You're welcome." Piper says with a feigned smile.

"So do you have any recipes you can send my way so I can get better?" Coop asks.

"Phoebe!" Piper says, trying to change the conversation, "How's Darryl? What did he want?"

"He is dealing with a case and he thinks it might be supernaturally linked. He wants me to come take a look." Phoebe answers with hesitation.

"What did you tell him?" Paige asks, "Are you going to do it?"

"Any other day, I would." Phoebe admits, "But with today being my first day of work and all, I directed him to Billie."

"What happened to you guys accepting your responsibilities that comes with being protectors of the innocent and not tossing them to the side?" Leo asks.

"It's not ignoring the responsibilities." Phoebe defends, "I'm just having Billie accessing the situation and if Darryl is right and there are demons or warlocks involved, then yeah I will take charge and do what needs to be done."

"You couldn't have directed Darryl to Piper or Paige to do it?" Henry asks.

"We have the funeral to attend today, remember?" Paige reminds Henry.

"Oh yeah! Belay my last. Forget I said anything." Henry chuckles nervously.

"What about Piper?" Coop asks.

"I have a business meeting with Jeffrey St. James to talk about my restaurant and then book a band for the club." Piper answers.

"I thought I was the one booking the band for the club today?" Leo ponders out loud, causing Piper to glare at him angrily.

"I'm sure Laylah is going to love all of these excuses." Chris mutters under his breath.

"Chris? Honey?" Piper says with a smile, "Grown folks are talking. That means zip it!"

"All of this doesn't matter anyway." Phoebe interjects, "I bet Darryl is just being paranoid as always and we won't have anything to worry about."

"Where's Laylah anyway?" Paige asks.

"She said she needed to get out of the house so she went meditate on top of Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Karisimbi or some mountain in Africa." Piper answers.

"Does she think that will help her get her powers faster?" Leo asks to which Piper shrugs.

"Ok, so I've got to get going!" Piper says as she stands up.

"Already? You didn't even finish your food." Coop says, slightly disappointment.

"Yeah, I know. I'm too nervous to eat right now but the food is good, though." Piper says as she steps aside and slides the chair back underneath the table.

"I will see you guys later, okay?" Piper waves at her children as she gives Leo a kiss and walks out of the house.

"What the hell was all of that about?" Paige asks the table.

"I don't know, Paige…" Phoebe says with her eyes still resting on the front door Piper walked out of, "I don't know."

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Confined in her dimly lit apartment, Laura sits in the middle of the floor surrounded by various notes and leaves of paper. Her wall is littered with post-its, diagrams and countless research. The room brightens up as a white and blue orbs of light materialize and Rosier appears in its place.

"Wow, you are really dedicated, aren't you?" Rosier asks, looking around in disbelief.

"Something big is going on and I am on the verge of finding out more than what we already know." Laura answers without taking her eyes off her notepad.

"What have you figured out so far?" Rosier asks as he walks closer to Laura, "The Elders can use a little bit of new information since they found out about Abaddon and his sister from The Charmed Ones instead of me."

"We thought the Uncovering had to do with Abaddon cloaking all the demons and warlocks for his greater plan but we were wrong." Laura begins.

"Do tell." Rosier says as he takes a seat, watching Laura in amazement.

"See, ten years ago, the sisters faced a demon king who enslaved other demons for his own gain. They were searching for something…a weapon." Laura explains, "I believe that this is what Abaddon is looking for. The discovery or 'the Uncovering' of this weapon is what Abaddon is planning."

"Do you know what this weapon looks like?" Rosier asks.

"No, unfortunately I do not." Laura answers, "The weapon was buried so long ago that no one really knows what it looks like. Abaddon does because he was around the last time anyone saw this weapon."

"Do we know where the weapon is buried or at least have an idea of where it is?"

"No but that's not the craziest part." Laura pauses, "The weapon needs some sort of key to track it and to unlock it. That is another dilemma Abaddon is facing."

"A key?" Rosier ponders, "How do you know all of this?"

"Demons have loose lips when you hit them where it hurts." Laura says with a smile/

"Good." Rosier smiles back.

"I feel like I'm on the verge of discovering something big but I cannot put my finger on it." Laura groans.

"Well, you've done an outstanding job." Rosier says as he stands up, "I'll report this back to the Elders and you continue doing what you're doing."

"Uh huh." Laura mumbles.

Rosier nods and orbs out of the room.

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The sounds of running water, clinking and clashing of the dishes and laughter can be hears as Coop, Leo and Henry begin to clean up the breakfast table; walking from and to the kitchen carrying empty dishes.

"I'm serious, Coop, you really did a good job with this meal." Henry compliments, "How come none of us knew you could throw down in the kitchen?"

"I never had the chance to cook for anyone besides my family before. I mean, I didn't cook for Phoebe and the girls until we moved to Europe but you think it was that good?"

"Well, you're giving Piper a run for her money so I'd say so." Leo laughs, "Just don't tell her I said that."

The men laugh at Leo's last comment.

"Coop, can't you just you know? Snap your fingers and let all of these dishes disappear or something?" Henry asks.

"I can but you know, personal gain and all that…" Coop answers.

"Personal gain is mainly a rule that witches follow and seeing as how you're not a witch…." Leo snickers.

"You were a whitelighter and I doubt you used your powers for anything else besides your job, did you?" Coop states defensively.

"I used it once in a while for my own gain, didn't hurt anyone." Leo says.

"To each his own. I can't risk it." Coop mumbles

"Of course you can't. I'm not surprised." Henry says as he begins to walk into the kitchen.

"Wait…" Coop says as he stops Henry, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, don't mind me." Henry chuckles.

"I know you, Henry." Coop says with his hand on Henry's chest, holding him back, "You never say anything you don't mean. Say what's on your mind."

Henry flashes Leo a hesitant glare, to which Leo shakes his head and shrugs mindlessly. Henry takes a deep breath and as he exhales, the wall holding back all the words he was trying so hard swallow came out rapidly.

"Honestly, you are very passive…"

"Of course I'm passive, I'm a Cupid." Coop says with pride.

"No. Like you're very safe, you do not possess an element of danger or have anything about you that intimidates anyone or anything." Henry says.

"I don't want to be intimidating…" Coop retorts.

"No, that's not what I mean." Henry groans, "You're too cautious, you always play by the rules, there's nothing exciting about anything that you do. Honestly, watching paint dry for a day sounds more exciting that hanging out with you for an hour."

"Ouch…" Leo says, wincing at Henry's comment.

"I'm sorry but it's true." Henry says, placing his hand on Coop's shoulder for comfort, "You're a good person. You're a good father and a good husband and a damn good friend…"

"The best…" Leo adds.

"But you're too damn boring. You cannot live your life like this all the time especially seeing as how you're immortal. You need to kick things up and make things more exciting for you and your family."

"Is this true, Leo? Do you feel the same way?" Coop asks with his eyes tinged with sadness.

"I wouldn't put it as harsh as Henry did but he's not too far off." Leo begins, "For example, remember when we went to Las Vegas for Darryl's birthday? You only spent one night out with us and spend the remaining nights in bed watching Netflix."

"I was watching Supernatural! Those Winchester brothers are dangerous and fun." Coop says.

"When we started binge watching Game of Thrones, you quit watching after the first episode just because you saw Khaleesi's breasts." Henry comments.

"Listen to me, Coop…" Leo begins, "We're not saying you should go out and be aggressive all the time but this passive personality you got will get tiring one day. We don't care. You're our friend no matter what. But Phoebe?"

"What about Phoebe?" Coop asks.

"Her whole love life, with the exception of you and Jason Dean were all what she considered bad boys. You may have an idea because you're a Cupid but those were her type. Hell, her first husband was a demon." Leo says, trying to open his brother-in-law's mind, "There will come a time where your marriage will hit a snag and you will need to spice things up…"

"I'm a Cupid; I know what to do to keep my marriage happy." Coop retorts defensively.

"You know what? Forget we said anything. If Phoebe loves you just the way you are, then who are we to tell you to change who you are?" Henry says as he pats Coop on his shoulder gently. Coop can tell by Henry's tone and the pat on the shoulder reeked of condescending vibes.

"I think we should go." Leo says as he places the dishes in his hands on the dining room table.

"You're right." Henry sighs as he checks his watch, "I'm supposed to meet up with Paige anyway."

"I'm auditioning a band this afternoon. Come by the club this evening before the opening if you want, okay?" Leo says as he walks towards the door and opens it.

"Yeah…" Coop answers as he watches Henry and Leo walk out the door and slam it shut.

Coop walks into the kitchen and gently places the dirty plates in the soapy sink. He shuts off the faucet and sighs heavily.

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A man sits in a music studio with his band tuning his guitar. He plays with the chords of the guitar and groans out of frustration. He writes on the piece of paper and then scratches what he scribbled down.

"You alright, Scott?" one of his bandmates asks as he approaches.

"Yeah, I'm fine Joe. It's this song." Scott answers, "The melody is in my head but the lyrics are not flowing. It's frustrating."

"You don't have to finish the song today. Our primary goal is to land this gig at P3 and then worry about this song later." Joe says trying to ease Scott's burden.

"I know but I really wanted to premiere this song tomorrow night at the club." Scott insists.

"The audition is at 1:00 pm. We should get ready to head out there now." Joe says.

"You guys start packing up. I'll be out there shortly with my stuff." Scott says as he continues to tune his guitar.

"Are you sure?" Joe asks.

"I'm sure." Scott reassures Joe. Joe nods and walks away.

"Ok, you guys! Let's pack up!" he announces. Scott watches as his bandmates begin to carry their equipment out of their studio. With each passing band member, he nods and flashes a smile and they do the same in return.

The studio falls silent with Scott being the only remaining. He plays a few chords on his guitar and then groans out of frustration. He sets his guitar aside and as he folds his arms on his engineering console; he rests his head on his arms as he lets out a defeating sigh.

A light blue glow appears behind Scott and in an instant, the transparent woman from before materializes. With her hair and her light blue dress blowing in the wind, she steps forward and hovers her hand over Scott's shoulder and smiles. The symbol appears on his neck and burns bright for a moment and disappears. Scott raises his head and looks around for a brief moment.

He picks up his guitar and with the strum of his pick, he begins to play a beautiful melody while he sings out loud. His bandmates return and watch in awe as they watch their leader sing and play a song leaving them enthralled.

"Do you feel that?" Scott says as he continues to play the guitar.

"Feel what?" Joe asks.

"I feel so good. I feel like I can write an entire album right now, much less a song…" Scott says as he stops playing his guitar and grabs his notepad. He begins to pour his thoughts and feelings onto the parchment.

"Uh, Scott?" Joe says as he looks at his bandmates and then back at Scott, "That's great and all but we have to get going."

"Give me just a minute. I want to write all of this down while it's still fresh in my mind…" Scott says as he begins to mumble his lyrics while he writes them down.

"Can you do this in the bus then? I mean we really got to go." Joe pleads.

"I SAID GIVE ME A MINUTE!" Scott bellows as his eyes lock with Joe's. He looks at the rest of his bandmates and looks down at his notepad, startled. The rest of the band mates stare back at him, perplexed.

"Mason, can you uh…can you grab my guitar and the case? I'll go get the rest of the stuff." Scott says in a low voice.

"Sure…" Mason replies as he steps out and grabs the guitar case.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Joe asks his band mate one last time.

"I just need some rest. I'll be fine." Scott says as he walks out of the studio.

The invisible woman looks on as the rest of the band members walks out, murmuring to each other. The woman closes her eyes and disappears into the darkness of the studio.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Across the city in the San Francisco Police department, Darryl marches into the precinct and heads to his office when his subordinate, Detective Brown approaches him.

"Captain!" he screams as he runs towards Darryl. Darryl turns around and walks towards him and they meet half way.

"What's up, Brown?" Darryl asks.

"Desmond's mother is here and she wants to talk to you." Brown says.

"Where is she?"

"She's sitting outside of your office." Brown replies.

"Why is she outside my office?" Darryl asks.

"Because you have another visitor in your office." Brown answers.

"Do you have any idea who it is?" Darryl asks as he walks closer to his office and the door swings open.

"Hey, Darryl." Billie says with a smile, "You rang?"

Darryl groans and walks to Mrs. Desmond, an older woman with dirty blonde hair crying hysterically wipes her tears with her handkerchief.

"Hi, Mrs. Desmond?" he reaches out to her, "Please give me a minute and I will be right with you."

"Julia." Mrs. Desmond says through her sniffles and raspy voice.

"I'm sorry?" Darryl asks politely.

"My name is Julia." She repeats.

"Well, Julia?" Darryl begins, "I have to take care of this issue for a second so I'll be with you shortly."

Julia nods and watches Darryl walk into his office and shut the door.

"What are you doing here?" Darryl asks.

"Phoebe called me and told me you needed help so here I am!" Billie says cheerfully.

"Yeah, I needed _her_ help, not yours." Darryl says, obviously irritated.

"Well, the sisters are busy so you're stuck with me."

"I don't need your help. I thought this issue was a magic problem but I thought wrong." Darryl says as he walks to his desk and shuffles the papers. He pulls up a picture of the symbol found on Jesse's body.

"Ooooo! What is that?" Billie asks, intrigued.

"Nothing." Darryl says as he tries to hide the picture but Billie flexes her finger, sending the picture flying towards her.

"This is interesting." Billie says, observing the picture, "This mark looks familiar, like I've seen it in the book before."

"So you think it's a demon or something?" Darryl asks.

"I'm not certain but I'll need to borrow this to find out." Billie says.

"You know what? I think I'm just tripping." Darryl says as he bursts into maniacal laughter, "Every time I run into an issue, I automatically think it is something supernatural and I have got to stop."

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Darryl." Billie says as she continues to stare at the picture.

"Excuse me; I have a grieving mother out here to talk to." Darryl says as he walks to his door and opens it, showing Billie the way out.

Billie groans and walks out and Julia walks in. Darryl slams the door shut and invites Julia to sit.

"For starters, I just want to say I'm very sorry for your loss." Darryl says in a sympathetic tone.

"Thank you." Julia responds in a weepy voice.

"What can I do for you?" Darryl asks.

"I wanted to know what you guys have gathered so far in the homicide case concerning my son." Julia asks.

"I'm sorry, homicide?" Darryl asks in confusion, "Your son committed suicide by way of arson."

"That wasn't my son." Julia insists, "My son would never kill himself. He was murdered."

"Uh, Mrs. Desmond…"

"Julia."

"Ok. Julia?" Darryl begins, "Jesse was cornered in his apartment and he locked himself in and set the place on fire."

"Were you in the apartment with him?" Julia asks.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you see him set the fire? Did you see him die?" Julia asks.

"Not really. I just…"

"Then how can you be sure?" Julia asks, "I spoke to him earlier in the day and he was fine. He was happy and he couldn't wait to come see me this weekend. Then he called me terrified and paranoid in the evening because he thinks something happened to him and that he was losing control of his actions. He died a few hours after that. I raised Jesse. For 33 years, I knew that boy better than I know myself. He was always happy and even on the days where a person wish for death, Jesse would try his best to brighten your day. That's why he was a comic book artist. He liked to make people smile and be happy. He would not kill himself. He just wouldn't."

Darryl sits there in silence as he watches the tears fall down from the eyes of this grieving mother. His heart broke with every tear drop and his instinct agreed with her. Taking a deep breath, Darryl sighs and grabs Julia's hand in an effort to comfort her.

"I'll do the best I can to figure out what happened to your son." Darryl says with determination.

"That's all I ask." Julia sniffles as she manages to crack a smile in the midst of her living nightmare. Julia stands up and Darryl walks with her towards the door.

"I'll keep you updated as much as possible." Darryl says with a smile. Julia nods and walks away. As Darryl watches Julia walk towards the exit, Billie steps out of the side of the front with a smile.

"What the hell?!" Darryl screams.

"Sounds like you're going to need my help after all." Billie says as she folds her arms. Darryl steps aside and Billie walks into his office. With an agitated look on his face, Darryl slams his door shut.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In a room boasting with black and gold colors, Piper sits at the table nervously as she fidgeted with the framed pictures of her children, her husband and her sisters on her desk. Whenever she faced adversity or confronted with something she feared, she always drew strength from her children, comfort from her husband and reassurance and support from her sisters.

A light knock on the door can be heard and Piper stands up immediately.

"Ahem…" Piper clears her throat nervously and then announces, "Come in!"

The door swings open and Jerry Mercer, dressed in a black business suit with a black suitcase in his hand walks into the office.

"Jerry?" Piper asks, startled, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here for a meeting." Jerry answers with a smile.

"I'm waiting for your father; I don't know why you're here. Does Billie know you're here?" Piper asks.

"No." Jerry says with a smile, "She doesn't but my father knows I'm here. I'm here to take my father's place. He had a last minute appointment he had to honor. It was either cancel this meeting or have me stand in his place."

"Great…" Piper says as she steps aside and allows Jerry to enter the room. Jerry looks around and sits down. He sets his briefcase onto the side and interlocks his fingers.

"This is a beautiful club, Piper. I'm glad he's finally taken my word in trying into invest in you."

"You told him to invest in my restaurant?" Piper asks as she takes her seat, "Why?"

"Initially, Billie suggested it. Then when I came here for the first time and saw what you've done with it, the requests I receiving and the accolades your restaurant and your food received, I knew I had to let you shine a little more than just in a small corner in California."

"Well, thank you." Piper blushes, "Well, I've put together charts and graphs and I…"

"Piper, Piper…let me stop you there." Jerry says, interrupting Piper's presentation, "Like I said I'm not my father."

"At least let me know what you're trying to get into before you have the contracts drawn out." Piper suggests.

"That's great but I did my homework on all of this before I came here today. In addition to the charts and records, your reviews are amazing and it also helps that I know you personally." Jerry begins, "We are interested. We do not need convincing. You, on the other hand…"

"What about me?" Piper asks as she begins to put her paperwork away.

"We want to reiterate on expanding your brand…"

"Brand?" Piper chortles, "I don't have a brand."

"Yes you do, you're just not aware of it." Jerry says, "We want to establish you in a bigger city and establish a clientele. We heard your concerns about branching out and we will just base you here in California until you're ready to move forward."

"That's great!" Piper says excitedly.

"The next city we are planning to have you take over is Los Angeles…" Jerry says.

"L.A.?" Piper asks as her jaw drops, "Are you sure?"

"Like a heart attack." Jerry answers, "We just need you to go to Los Angeles to oversee everything and make sure it's up to your standards. We're just providing the funding and you are just going to run the business."

"You just want a piece of the pie in return, don't you?" Piper says slyly, "How many percent?"

"Twenty." Jerry whispers.

"That's it?" Piper asks as her suspicious nature takes over, "What's the catch?"

"The catch is that I believe in you so much that I know 20% will be enough profit from an investment. You just need to divide your time between San Francisco and L.A."

"I can't do that…" Piper says softly, "My kids and my husband…"

"You have time to think about it, Piper. No rush, we are working on your time do move as comfortable as you feel." Jerry says as he stands up. He places the briefcase on Piper's desk and opens it, taking out the papers. He places the papers in front of Piper.

"Have your lawyers look it over and call me whenever you're ready." Jerry says. He grabs his suitcase and walks away. He opens the door to Piper's office and looks back.

"I have no worries, Piper." He says with a smile, "You'll figure it out."

Jerry nods and walks out of the office, leaving Piper to contemplate about her decision. Her eyes fall onto the picture of the family picture consisting of Wyatt, Chris and Mellie standing behind them while Piper and Leo sit on a chair in front, all five people bearing a happy smile. Piper takes a deep breath and runs her fingers through her long, brown hair.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A church organ plays a somber tune in the background as a picture of Bob Cowan can be seen perched in the hallway outside of a slightly crowded room. Paige found herself dressed in a black pantsuit, with dark sun glasses to match. The turnout was a surprise, close to a hundred people marched in and out of the room, but she hardly recognized any of them. She kept looking down at her watch and then looks around the room while pacing impatiently.

Henry runs to his wife, fixing his jacket as he got nearer.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Henry apologizes as he kisses his wife in a poor attempt to pacify her, "I was helping Leo and Coop at their house and then I had to get dropped off at the house to change…"

"The important thing is you're here now." Paige whispers, "You're just in time for the service to start."

"Great. Let the weeping begin." Henry jokes as he follows Paige into the room where Bob Cowan lay.

The funeral service was slower than a country bus, taking just as many detours. Everyone had a memory to share, an anecdote to recite and a favorite hymn to sing. The tears accompanied by the wailing were the emotional soundtrack to Bob Cowan's life and just like that, the service was over.

Going down the assembly line of mourners, Paige and Henry shook the hands of the family members who were too distraught with grief to say anything more than 'Thank you'. Paige worked for Bob Cowan for three years and she had never met his family. She knew Bob had a wife and four children but up until today, she never thought she would care to find out who they were and what their names were until now; now that she was standing before them, frozen and the words of condolence failed to escape her lips.

"We're sorry for your loss, Mrs. Cowan." Henry says in a tone hoping to provide solace to the Cowan widow.

"Thank you. And it's Eugenia." Mrs. Cowan responds, shaking Henry's hand and then Paige's, "How did you guys know Robert?"

"My wife here worked for him a few years back." Henry answers in a gentle tone.

"That's great. I know he worked in Social services and he helped a lot of people but I never knew how much of an impact he made until now." Eugenia says as her voice begins to break.

"From what I know, he was a great guy. This isn't surprising." Henry says.

"That's why it shocked me that he died the way he did." Eugenia states.

"What do you mean?" Henry asks.

"He died in a freak accident. He fell from a second story window and broke his neck. His body was found in a neighborhood he has never visited before and his car was found three blocks away. It doesn't make any sense." Eugenia reveals as she begins to break down and her oldest son consoles her.

Paige snaps out of her petrified state and looks at Henry and then Eugenia.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Eugenia." Paige finally says, extending her sympathies.

"Thanks, dear." Eugenia says.

Paige and Henry walk away into the hallway, away from the rest of the mourners.

"What happened to you?" Henry asks Paige.

"I don't know. I'm not good at being at funerals." Paige answers.

"Clearly." Henry sighs, "What a nice lady. Shame what happened to her husband."

"Yeah, shame." Paige says as her mind begins to wander. Henry stares at his wife and a look of realization hits him.

"I know that look." Henry says, whispering to his wife, "You're up to something."

"What if there's more to Bob's death than we know?"

"But we don't know anything." Henry says, trying to dissuade his wife.

"What we know so far is what his wife told us. Something doesn't sound right. I think I was here for a reason." Paige says.

"Yeah because you initially went to the Social Services place looking for a job and found out he was dead." Henry says sarcastically, "It's a coincidence."

"Everything happens for a reason, Henry. I don't believe in coincidences and neither should you." Paige says as she puts on her shades, "Come on, we have some work to do."

Paige storms out of the funeral home and Henry watches her walk out for a moment.

"Isn't anything ever simple in this family?" Henry complains to himself.

"HENRY!" Paige can be heard yelling outside.

"Coming dear!" Henry shouts back, running out of the funeral home.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The school bells ring in Dwight Eisenhower Elementary school and the students pour out of their classrooms, heading into the cafeteria. Tricia walks the hallway with her sister, Paris, heading in the same general direction as everyone else.

Mellie walks out of class, smiling and greeting with Penny and Gabby next to her.

"Hey, Mellie!" a girl screams, "Are you up for the mall after school?"

"Sure. We can go to the arcade afterwards." Mellie answers back.

"Cool! Will text you the details later!" the girl says as she walks away.

Mellie walks backwards and bumps into Tricia, both of them dropping their books onto the floor upon making contact.

"Watch where you're going!" Tricia snaps as she bends to pick up her books.

"I'm sorry…" Mellie apologizes but pauses when she sees Tricia, "I'm sorry."

"Whatever." Tricia says as she stands up, "Get lost."

"You know, a few of us are going to the mall after school. Do you want to come with?" Mellie asks.

"I want to go!" Paris exclaims.

"Paris!" Tricia shouts with her gritted teeth.

"I guess not…" Paris says, unenthused.

"Well you're invited…both of you." Mellie says, "So whenever you feel like you're over this family feud, you know where I live and you know my number."

Mellie turns around and walks away with the twins following her.

"Why _are_ you still mad at her?" Paris asks her sister.

"She made my life a living hell ever since she started running for Class President. No one talks to me anymore after the election; no one was to be seen with me." Tricia answers.

"Have you ever thought that people don't want to be around you because you act like you're better than everyone else?" Paris asks.

"In Paris, I was adored and worshipped. I even modeled for Yves Saint Laurent in Paris. People should be flocking to me, not the other way around." Tricia says as she flips her hair.

"You know what?" Paris says as she walks backwards away from her sister, "Pais and I only stuck on your side because you're our sister and that's what sisters do but your reason for doing this is pretty selfish."

"What does that mean?" Tricia asks.

"This is San Francisco, not Paris. Your ego is too inflated for your own good. I love you but I can't be around this anymore. It's depressing." Paris says as she walks away, "Come find me when you become the big sister I love and remember."

"Fine! I don't need you! I don't need anyone!" Tricia yells as the school bells ring and the hallway doors slam shut, leaving Tricia standing and feeling alone for the first time in her life.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

As the ding of the elevator sounds the air, the doors slide open and Phoebe steps outside and walks towards the double glassed doors of the Bay Mirror. Phoebe takes a deep breath and with a smile on her face, she pushes the door open.

"There she is!" Elise screams as everyone turns around and applaud loudly.

"No, please stop…" Phoebe smiles as she walks further into the office, "Thank you, I appreciate it."

"Welcome back, Phoebe." Sophie says as she hugs Phoebe.

"Thank you." Phoebe answers as she pulls away.

"Follow me…" Elise says excitedly as she grabs Phoebe's hand and yanks her towards an office.

"Where are you taking me?" Phoebe asks.

"Your office." Elise answers.

"But my office was back there."

"Not anymore!" Elise says in a sing song voice as she opens the door.

A picture of Phoebe hangs on the wall behind a desk with a large leather chair. The window to the left overlooks the tall buildings in the city with the Golden Gate Bridge visible in the distance.

"Wow." Phoebe gasps.

"I take it that you like it?" Elise asks.

"I do, I really do but I don't think it's necessary." Phoebe stutters.

"I think it is. You're going to be under a lot of stress dealing with deadlines with the newspaper and with your book, the best thing we can do is make sure you work in a relaxing visual atmosphere." Elise says.

"I don't know what to say, Elise." Phoebe says with a tone of gratitude in her voice.

"I'm just glad to have you back, Phoebe." Elise says happily, "Do you know what you're trying to do first?"

"Well, I don't think I have any letters yet since today is my first day back so I guess try to start working on my book for this first week." Phoebe answers.

"Any ideas of what you're going to write about?" Elise asks.

"No, but I'm pretty sure it's going to come to me." Phoebe chuckles.

"Well, no ideas can come to you if I'm standing here so I'm going to leave you alone to get started." Elise says as she backs up from the office, "Welcome back and if you need anything from me, just know that I'm right next door."

"Thanks so much for all of this, Elise!" Phoebe says with a smile as Elise walks out of the door and closes it.

Phoebe takes off her purse and sets it on the desk. She takes a deep breath and looks around at her new office. She walks around her desk, sliding her fingers gently on the surface. She takes a seat in her chair as her face lights up with happiness. She opens up the laptop sitting on her desk and logs in.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Chris jumps out of the way of an incoming fireball as it hits the wall behind him, leaving a large scorch mark in its wake. A demon stands before him, covered in all black with white tribal marking tattoos over his body. The iris of his eyes was bright red and his teeth were jagged and sharp. The demon spins around and transforms himself into a large black gust of wind, similar to a tornado, heading towards Chris.

"Any minute now!" Chris yells as the dark funnel heads closer to him.

Bianca shimmers in behind the tornado and with her hands glowing a blue color, she plunges her hand into the ground, creating a portal.

The portal begins to pull all manner of objects into its midst, with Chris and Bianca holding on to solid objects for dear life.

The tornado begins to move back away from Chris and towards the portal. As soon as the tornado touches the blue lit portal, it disappears from sight, leaving Bianca and Chris behind.

"Now close it!" Chris yells, trying his hardest not to lose his grip.

Bianca stands up and moves towards the portal, using the wall as a brace. As she nears the portal, she slips and immediately, the pull of the portal yanks her towards the open vortex. Bianca screams as she thrashes around on the floor and immediately, she levitates into the air and finds herself suspended above the portal.

Chris holds up his left hand, apparently holding Bianca in the air while sliding towards the portal by force.

" _In fine Ostium!_ " Chris shouts as he foot touches the portal. The light from the portal flickers and disappears instantly. Chris lowers his hand as Bianca gently lands on her feet. Chris lies back and breathes a sigh of relief.

"That was close!" Bianca says, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

"Yeah, you think?" Chris snaps at her, clearly out of breath, "You need to learn to control your power."

"That was the first time I used my power to create a portal, thanks to you." Bianca says as she extends her hand, offering to help Chris stand up. Chris hesitates for a second and grabs her arm. Bianca pulls him up.

"I didn't help create anything. That was all you. All I did was help you tap into the power that was already there."

"Still, I wouldn't be able to do that without you." Bianca says with a smile, "Thanks."

Chris looks at Bianca and catches the color of her eyes. The light from the sunset outside illuminates her face and turns her brown eyes into a light brown, slightly hazel hue. Chris immediately looks down and gently mutters, "Don't mention it."

An awkward silence fills the room for a brief moment before Chris tries to change the subject.

"This is the fifth practice in a row Wyatt has missed so far. It's funny how he was the one who pushed me to start doing this and he's barely here." Chris says.

"Actually, I insisted he have you join us, and it looks like I made the right choice." Bianca says as she tucks her hair behind her ears.

"That's how you feel?" Chris laughs.

"Something like that." Bianca replies with a chuckle.

Chris looks at his watch and then looks at Bianca, "It's getting too late. I've got to head home."

"I do too." Bianca says as she laughs nervously, "I guess I'll see you tomorrow?"

"I mean, the sun is setting, we can walk home if you'd want?" Chris offers.

"Sure. I'd like that." Bianca says as she opens the door and walks out, with Chris following her out. As they walk out of the warehouse, they eventually arrive at the park with a stunning gazebo with a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The setting sun lingers between the bars of the bridge with the tinge of purple and orange colors stretched across the sky.

"What is this place?" Bianca asks.

"This is my sister's spot." Chris answers, "My dad used to bring her here all of the time."

"This is nice." Bianca says as she walks into the gazebo and takes a seat on the bench, "The view of the sunset is nice from here."

"I guess so." Chris says as he joins her.

As the sun inches closer to the horizon, the sky turns darker and the stars begin to irradiate the sky.

"Can I ask you a question?" Bianca asks.

"Sure."

"Why did you hate me or at least acted like you did?" Bianca asks.

"I didn't hate you." Chris answers.

"You weren't especially kind to me." Bianca says quietly.

"I just don't like to lower my guard until I get to know the person." Chris explains.

"So what do you think about me now?" Bianca asks Chris, staring into his eyes while biting her bottom lip.

"You're not that bad." Chris says in his soft voice, "What about me?"

"You're not an insufferable know-it-all." Bianca smiles.

"Is that what you thought about me?" Chris asks with a chuckle.

"You speak Latin. How many people do you know in high school speak Latin?" Bianca asks.

"Well, speaking Latin saved your ass today." Chris defends himself with a smile.

"I appreciate that…" Bianca says as she scoots closer to Chris, "Let me show you my gratitude."

Chris swallows a lump and watches as Bianca closes her eyes and puckers her lips. Chris' heart beats so fast, he feared his heart was going to leap out of his chest and run away.

" _I've never kissed a girl before_." Chris thought to himself, " _How do I do this?_ "

With a million thoughts running through his mind, they all disappeared as soon as his lips met with Bianca's. A warm feeling rose from his chest and washed over him as he closed his eyes and sunk into the moment. He had never felt anything like this before and now, in this moment, nothing else mattered.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The band begin to play their set, rehearsing before the club opens. Scott sings lead, Joe stands next to him singing back up and playing the bass guitar. In the back, Mason sits by the drums and Lindsay stands in the corner on the keys.

Coop sits at the bar of P3 while Leo stands behind the counter, wiping down glasses. His mind wanders far with his face and eyes frozen in a daydream.

"Hello?!" Leo waves his hands in front of him, "Coop? Are you there?"

"Yeah, yeah." Coop says, snapping out of his trance, "Sorry about that."

"Are you okay? You've been out of it since last night." Leo asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Coop says, "What band is this anyway?"

"They call themselves The Failed Experiment." Leo answers.

"That's their name?" Coop laughs.

"Yeah, young kids nowadays. I don't question them but they're apparently famous because we sold out in an hour after we booked them." Leo states.

"Can I ask you a question?" Coop asks.

"Shoot."

"What was Cole like?" Coop asks.

"Cole? Why are you asking about that?" Leo asks.

"I mean the talk about exes yesterday kind of had me thinking." Coop begins.

"As a Cupid, I imagine you know about the exes of your charges and since Phoebe was a charge before she became your wife, you know about hers too." Leo says.

"I know _of_ her exes, yes." Coop says, "I don't know anything _about_ them."

"There's nothing to say. Cole was a demon, pure evil." Leo answers.

"But there must have been a reason why Phoebe was with him for two years and married him." Coop says.

"Cole was a charming guy. He had good qualities but his thirst for power was stronger than his love for Phoebe." Leo explains, "I liked him when he was on our side for a little bit but he put this family through hell."

"So you'd say that he was dangerous?" Coop asks.

"He was a soldier of the Source, then he _became_ the Source and then he became an invincible demon until he made himself vulnerable for a moment to be vanquished, so I'd say so yeah."

Scott stops playing the guitar and turns to Joe while the rest of the band continue to play.

"Can we take five? Everything is looking good so far." Scott says.

"Sure…" Joe says as he turns to the rest of his bandmates.

Scott sits on a stool in front of a microphone and begins to strum his guitar, singing his heart out.

"Is he okay?" Lindsay asks Joe.

"What do you mean?" Joe asks.

"The outburst he had earlier and now he's writing and creating this brilliant music we've never heard before…" Lindsay says with concern.

"I'm not complaining. He seems fine now." Joe says.

"That didn't look like the Scott we know but that's your best friend. I'll take your word for it." Lindsay shrugs.

The transparent mysterious woman appears on the stage, watching Scott sing beautifully into the microphone, strumming his guitar and capturing the attention of everyone in the room. The woman smiles as she walks closer to Scott and hovers her hand over his shoulder.

Coop, watching Scott sing sees the woman emerge from the shadows and stand next to Scott.

"Where did she come from?" Coop asks.

"Where did who come from?" Leo asks, while wiping down the counter.

"Her. The woman on the stage." Coop asks.

"The woman on the keyboard?"

"No, Leo, the woman standing next to the lead singer." Coop says adamantly.

Leo squints his eyes and shakes his head, confused at what Coop was looking at. Coop stands up and begins to walk slowly towards the stage.

Scott stops singing and an eerie look falls on his face. He grabs his guitar and immediately begins to smash his guitar on the stage.

"Scott! What the hell are you doing?!" Joe asks as he grabs Scott by his arm.

Scott turns around and grabs the microphone stand and tosses it off the stage. He grabs another stand and swings at Joe, knocking him off the stage.

Coop and Leo run towards the stage and Leo tackles Scott to the ground. Coop helps pin Scott to the ground with Leo. Leo sees the symbol of the quill mysteriously appear on the back of his neck. The symbol glows for a moment as the mysterious woman turns around to walk back into the shadows.

"Do you see this?" Leo asks Coop.

"GET OFF ME!" Scott screams.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Leo says as he clenches his fist and delivers a powerful blow, knocking Scott out.

"Who are you?" Coop says to the woman.

The woman turns around and smiles.

"Calliope?" Coop says with his eyes widened.

"Shhh!" Calliope whispers as she walks closer to Coop and blows him a kiss. Coop closes his eyes and his eyes become dilated for a quick second before they return to normal. The symbol appears and brightens on his arm for a second and disappears.

"I'll see you real soon, Coop." Calliope says with a smile as she fades into the darkness.

"Who were you talking to?" Leo asks, "Are you sure you're okay?"

Coop stands up, still looking in the direction of the dark corner of the stage and with fear in his voice, he whispers, "I'm not sure anymore."

TO BE CONTINUED.


	15. 10x08: We Are Not Amused (2)

_Author's Note: A big shoutout and welcome to meerkatsandpineapples123 for the fav. I appreciate it and I hope you're enjoying the story so far. As always, thanks to the readers for following the story. I truly appreciate you all._

 _-KingKenfordIV_

* * *

 **10x08: We Are Not Amused (Part 2)**

Flashing red and blue lights, chatter on the radio and a number of cops patrolling P3 peaks the interests of the bystanders being restrained by the yellow caution tape. Darryl emerges from the crowd and walks towards the club with Billie right behind him. The officer standing by the caution tape stops Billie in her tracks and Billie sighs loudly, looking at Darryl. Darryl turns around and with great hesitation; he sighs and waves at the officer, signaling her to let Billie through.

Billie jumps and claps happily as she crosses the line and walks besides Darryl.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Darryl asks her, clearly annoyed by her presence.

"Nope, when it comes to innocents, I have no greater duty." Billie answers.

"You know this has nothing to do with the Desmond case, right?" Darryl says, "This is just an assault case."

"And you're the Captain of the homicide division and yet here you are." Billie snaps back.

Darryl walks into the club, walks down the stairs and approaches Coop and Leo.

"Are you guys okay?" Billie asks, "What happened?"

"The singer went bananas and attacked his bass guitarist for no reason." Leo answers.

Darryl looks back at Joe sitting on the stage, being treated by paramedics.

"That's the guitarist?" Darryl asks, pointing to Joe.

"Yup." Coop answers.

Darryl walks away, leaving Billie alone with Leo and Coop.

"So that's just it? A minor case of assault and battery?" Billie asks.

"Well, Coop swears he saw a woman appear on the stage before Scott attacked." Leo says.

"What woman? Was it a demon?"

"We don't know." Coop answers as he folds his arms.

Darryl walks back towards the group and clears his throat.

"So apparently Scott Murray was a philanthropic person who was optimistic about everything in his life. He never got in trouble, always donated to charity and performed for benefits and was a spokesman for PETA." Darryl explains.

"Well yeah, anyone with an access to a phone can find that out in a heartbeat. Scott Murray is famous!" Billie says.

"He just had a few violent outbursts earlier in the day before going full on Rambo this evening." Darryl adds.

"Wait a minute." Billie begins, "He does all this good for the benefit of mankind and all of a sudden, he's gone psycho? Who does that remind you of?"

"Don't try to link this case to Jesse Desmond, it's completely different." Darryl argues, "Jesse had the symbol on his arm, and as far as we can tell, Scott didn't."

"Wait, what symbol?" Leo asks.

Billie takes out her phone and shows the picture to Leo and Coop. Leo's eyes widen in surprise.

"I can't believe it." Coop whispers.

"Looks familiar?" Darryl asks.

"That symbol appeared on Scott's neck for a minute and then disappeared." Leo answers.

"Coincidence? I think not." Billie says with a smile.

"Can you not be too excited about this?" Darryl asks.

"You guys just proved me right so I'm wearing this smile all night long." Billie says as she turns around and begins to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Darryl asks.

"To update the sisters, you were right!" Billie says as she climbs up the stairs and exits the club.

"Doesn't she annoy you?" Darryl asks Leo and Coop.

"Yeah, sometimes but she kind of grows on you." Leo answers.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Phoebe sits by her desk, staring at the blank page on her laptop with displeasure.

"Come on, Phoebe. You've got this!" Phoebe says to herself. Her fingers hover over the keyboard hoping the words will flow with ease but nothing on Earth is ever that simple. A light knock can be heard on the door and with a wiggle of the knob, the door opens.

"How's it going in here?" Elise says, poking her head in.

"At this point I think you have a better chance of starting this book than I do." Phoebe groans as she takes off her glasses and gently rubs her eyes.

"That bad, huh?" Elise asks, "Serious case of writer's block?"

"I guess it could be worse." Phoebe says as she groans loudly.

"Well, sorry to put a damper on your already crappy day but we just received some bad news. Jesse Desmond died last night." Elise says in her best sorrowful voice.

"Oh my God." Phoebe gasps, "The comic strip guy?"

"Uh huh."

"How?" Phoebe asks.

"Suicide by arson." Elise says, "Of all the ways to go…"

"He didn't seem like the type to commit suicide but…"

"Not everyone who commit suicide look like the type. I mean, look at Robin Williams." Elise says, "But anyway, just wanted to keep you updated. I bet I just put a damper on your creative thinking, huh?"

"No, you could have told me the whole office got a raise and circulation is up and I'd still be suffering from writer's block." Phoebe sighs.

"Well, you need to hurry up and decorate your desk with pictures of your family. When times like these arise, I look at their pictures for inspiration."

"Inspiration…" Phoebe whispers to herself as her eyes widen, "Inspiration, Elise you're a genius!"

"I am? What did I say?" Elise asks.

"Something to help me get the ball rolling. Thank you!" Phoebe says with glee as she grabs a pen and a notepad and begins to scribble.

"Well, glad I could help. I have a date tonight." Elise announces.

"A date? Who's the lucky guy?" Phoebe asks.

"You'll meet him soon enough, when we're both ready." Elise says with a smile, "I'll see you later, Phoebe."

"Have fun!" Phoebe shouts as Elise closes the door.

Phoebe rapidly writes on the notepad and then whispers her writings to herself as she reads it once over.

" _Being of creativity  
Show yourself now to me.  
Your light that shines upon our face  
Let our vision now embrace_." Phoebe chants.

The muse, Melody appears before Phoebe with a smile.

"Hello, Phoebe." She greets, as sweet as ever.

"Good to see you again, Melody." Phoebe says as she goes in for a hug. After their embrace, Melody's smile begins to wane.

"I know I'm not supposed to do this but I need your help. I need some inspiration." Phoebe pleads, "Can you help me?"

"I want to apologize but I think you haven't been feeling inspired lately because we have all been on alert and off our game." Melody states.

"Why? What happened? Did someone steal the ring of inspiration again?" Phoebe asks.

"No, not at all." Melody answers. She takes a deep breath and then she reveals, "One of our own has gone rogue. She's been hurting innocents and we need your help."

A look of dread falls on Phoebe's face as she exhales sharply.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In the Halliwell manor, the Charmed Children run into the house accompanied by the noise of laughter, footfalls and chatter, essentially robbing the Manor of the peace and quiet that occupied it before. Paige walks in with Henry and slams the door shut.

"No running in the house!" Paige yells.

"I'm hungry, mom!" Junior whines as he walks up to his mother, "Can I have some of the cookies in the cookie jar?"

"You can have just one. Your aunt Piper will be home soon to make dinner. Don't want you to spoil your appetite."

"Thanks, mom!" Junior screams as he runs towards the kitchen.

Paige sighs as she walks to the couch and sits down. Henry sits behind her on the edge of the couch and begins to rub her shoulders.

"What a day, huh?" Henry says calmly as he continues to massage Paige's shoulders.

"That sounds like an understatement. I can't believe Bob was murdered." Paige says.

"See, you're saying that as if you're absolutely sure that he did get murdered."

"I know it in my gut. I can't explain it. One thing I've learned since becoming a witch is to always trust my instincts." Paige says as she closes her eyes.

"I guess." Henry says, "Are you going to tell your sisters or is this going to be one of those things you want to handle yourself?"

"I'll tell them but I don't want them to get involved until I'm sure of all the facts." Paige answers.

The front door of the Manor can be heard swinging open and slamming shut with Piper announcing her presence.

"I'm home!"

"We're in here!" Paige shouts back.

"I'm so tired!" Piper whines as she drags herself to the living room. She sits down on the couch and sees the look on her sister and brother-in-law's faces. "What's going on? How was the funeral?

"It was okay…until Mrs. Cowan told us about how she believes her husband was murdered." Paige responds.

"Huh?" Piper asks, clearly caught off guard.

"Mr. Cowan's death was ruled an accident but Mrs. Cowan believes it's not." Henry adds.

"Do you believe her?" Piper asks.

"Yeah, I actually do." Paige says adamantly.

"So…what are you going to do?" Piper asks.

"I don't know." Paige says as she stands up, "I'm going to thumb through the Book to see what I can find."

"I don't know what good the Book may do you since this is not really a magic matter." Piper says.

"It may or may not be, I don't know but if it's getting justice for someone, then it's worth it." Paige says as she walks towards the stairs. Piper watches her sister walk up the stairs and then looks at Henry.

"What do you think?" Henry asks.

"She needs to do this to or else she'll never have peace of mind." Piper answers as she stands up and walks towards the stairs following her sister.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Tricia stands over the Book of Shadows in the attic, flipping through it carefully as she reads the pages.

"No…" she mumbles to herself, "Not this one. Nope. No…"

Her frustration grows with every turn of a page as she finally lands on her page that peaks her interest.

"Enthrallment Spell" Tricia reads to herself. She begins to read the instructions and the mutter the words to the spell under her breath. She hears footsteps walking up the stairs and in a fit of panic; she rips the page out of the Book of Shadows and closes the Book. She folds the page and puts it in her pocket, and runs to the couch. She looks around and digs through one of the books lying on top of a box filled with old paperbacks and opens it, pretending to read.

Paige walks into the attic and sees her niece sitting on the couch reading.

"Hey, honey. What are you doing up here?" Paige asks.

"Just needed a quiet place away from everyone to read." Tricia lies.

Paige walks over to Tricia and squints suspiciously.

"Uh huh…" Paige hums as she folds her arms, "A Clash of Kings? Since when did you read the Game of Thrones novels?"

"Since Chris recommended them to me?" Tricia answers as she smiles nervously.

"Right." Paige says with skepticism in her voice.

"Ok, you look like you're about to do something you don't want me to witness so…" Tricia says as she stands up and awkwardly walks away. As she heads out of the attic, Piper walks in and watches Tricia walking down the stairs.

"What was she doing up here?" Piper asks.

"I don't know. Apparently, she needed peace and quiet from your noisy nieces and nephews." Paige says as she walks to the podium and opens the book.

"What exactly do you expect to find in the Book?" Piper asks.

"I don't know. Maybe the truth spell can help?" Paige guesses.

"No can do. You don't even know who was around Bob at the time of his death for that spell to serve its purpose. You wouldn't know who to ask." Piper says, shutting down Paige's first thought.

"Ok, what about a vision quest? It helped us a lot in the past." Paige suggests as she continues to flip through the book.

"Vision quests help the individual who is plagued with problems and since Bob is already dead, it defeats the purpose." Piper points out.

"I just can't do nothing, Piper." Paige says as she slams the Book closed angrily.

"Hey…" Piper says as she walks closer to her sister and wraps her arms around her in an effort to comfort her, "We will think of something. Don't worry."

"Ok." Paige whispers.

"Now, I have hungry gremlins downstairs that will go manic if I don't feed them so let's go make our little ones something to eat." Piper says as she begins to walk away.

Paige watches her sister walk out of the attic and she sighs heavily.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The early morning sun was already peaking over the body of water spread underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Its rays spread across the horizon, painting the sky with different warm colors. The air felt refrigerated, the same coolness combined with moisture Piper always felt when she reached for the coffee cream. Though it was late enough for the bright light, it was early enough for the streets to be almost deserted.

Piper stood on her porch in her morning bath robe with a coffee cup in her hand, staring at the neighboring house her sister now lived in. A sip of her coffee filled her body with warmth as if the sun itself had laid a finger on her skin. The ringing of the paperboy's bicycle snaps her out of her zone, reminding her of the reason why she woke up so early. Her eyes fall upon the newspaper on the lawn and she runs down her steps to grab it and then speed back up the stairs, into her home and slam the door shut.

Piper walks into her kitchen and places her coffee mug on the counter. After a brief moment of thinking, she opens her fridge and takes out cartons of eggs, a jug of milk and bread.

"What are you doing?" Leo's voice can be heard in the distance asking. Piper jumps, causing her to drop all the contents in her arms and subsequently freezing them before they hit the ground.

"Leo!" she screams angrily, "You know I hate it when you creep up on me like that. It's very dangerous."

"It was dangerous when you had your explosion power. Now, it's fun again." Leo says with a smile.

"It's not funny." Piper says as she picks up the eggs, bread and jug of milk and places them on the counter, "What are you doing up so early?"

"Insomnia." Leo answers, "The events that happened last night was on my mind all night."

"Events?" Piper asks, "What events?"

"The lead singer of the band I booked attacked a band member." Leo explains, "It was crazy."

"Wait, this happened at the club?!" Piper asks as her eyes widen.

"Yeah, Darryl took him in though to protect him." Leo answers.

"To protect him? Why does Darryl need to protect him if he was the aggressor?" Piper asks.

"Billie thinks he went all 'hulk-like' because of a demon and Coop says he saw the demon before she disappeared." Leo says.

"Coop? Really?"

"Yeah. Billie is coming over today to talk to you guys about it." Leo says.

"Why didn't you tell me last night when you came home?" Piper asks.

"You were already sleeping by the time I came home; didn't seem important enough to wake you up." Leo answers, "Speaking of important stuff, how did the meeting with Jeremy go?"

"Jeremy didn't show up. Jerry did." Piper states.

"Jerry? As in Billie's Jerry?"

"The one and only." Piper says as she takes out the flour from the cabinet.

"How did it go?"

"It went well…until he told me he wanted to base the next restaurant in Los Angeles." Piper says.

"L.A.? That's not bad."

"Not bad?" Piper says in surprise, "Leo, if I do this, we are going to be separated. I will have to drive back and forth and miss important moments in the kids' life, not to mention ours."

"Piper, the kids are fine. They are old enough to take care of themselves, plus Phoebe and Paige are here to help, especially since Phoebe lives right next door to us now…"

"Ugh, don't remind me." Piper says, rolling her eyes.

"What was that?" Leo asks, "Do you have a problem with your sister living next door to us now?"

"No, I don't have a prob..." Piper begins to say but she stops herself, "Never mind."

"Speaking of sister, Phoebe invited us over for breakfast again." Leo announces.

"When?" Piper asks.

"Last night…when you were sleeping." Leo answers.

"Great." Piper says sarcastically, "Just great."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Piper and Leo walk into the Victorian Manor next door, now belonging to Phoebe and Coop. As they enter through the back door, they can hear the chatter of their children and their kin laughing and enjoying each other's company. Piper and Leo walk through the kitchen and Piper pauses for a second.

"What is it?" Leo whispers to Piper.

"We're here for breakfast but I don't see any plates or pans or any food. I don't even smell coffee." Piper says looking around.

"Come on, Piper. You're doing too much right now." Leo says as he grabs Piper's hand and leads her out of the kitchen.

As they approach the dining room, Piper shoots Leo a glance when she sees the dining table empty surrounded by her family.

"I told you!" Piper whispers through gritted teeth.

"Let's just take our seats and then see what's about to happen." Leo says.

"Piper!" Paige yells as Piper walks into the room.

"Hey guys." Leo says as he pulls out a chair and Piper takes her seat. Leo sits right next to Piper.

"Nice for you to join us." Billie says with a smile.

"When did you get here, Billie?" Piper asks.

"A few minutes before you did." Billie answers, "I heard congratulations are in order."

"Congratulations? For what?" Phoebe asks.

"Jerry and his family want to open up a new Halliwell's in Los Angeles." Billie announces.

Cheering and hollering fill the air as they all congratulate Piper on the good news.

"Wait, wait…" Piper shouts over the noise, trying to get their attention, "Nothing was signed. This is just the talking phase."

"Jerry says it's a done deal. He's just waiting on you." Billie notes.

"Oh my God, Piper!" Paige says happily, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want to say anything until I was absolutely sure." Piper answers. Piper looks around and then looks at her sister, "Where's breakfast? I'm starving."

"Yeah, honey. We're waiting on you." Phoebe says looking at her husband with a smile.

Coop looks around the table with an ominous look and with a snap of his fingers; a spread of breakfast is conjured onto the empty dining room table. The OOHS and AAHS fill the room as the children dive in and the adults look at each other in confusion.

"Uh, Coop, are you okay?" Henry asks.

"Yeah." Coop says unaffectedly, "Why do you ask?"

"Seems out of character for you, that's why I ask…" Henry asks.

"I feel fine, never better." Coop answers.

"Well at least I know how he prepared the breakfast yesterday." Piper mutters to Leo under her breath.

"What was that, Piper?" Phoebe asks Piper, clearly looking agitated.

"Okay! Um, kids? We'll be right back." Billie says as she stands up, trying to break the tension, "Grown-ups, living room now!"

Phoebe stands up with her husband and the rest of the Charmed Ones stand up with their spouses, and follow Billie out of the room.

"What was that all about?" Wyatt asks.

"I don't know." Chris mumbles as he shoves a loaf of bread in his mouth.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Leo leads Piper into the living room and before the rest of the cavalry arrive, he whispers to her.

"Can you stop it?"

"Stop what? I merely stated my opinion." Piper whispers back.

"This is not the time to be petty." Leo says.

"I was not being petty."

Billie walks in behind Piper and Leo and soon afterwards, Paige, Henry, Coop and Phoebe join them.

"Do you want to tell me what that was about?" Billie asks as she folds her arms.

"I don't know, why don't you ask Piper?" Phoebe says.

"Okay guys, let's drop it. We have better things to worry about." Paige interjects.

"Like what?" Piper asks.

"Like the muses issue we currently have going on?" Phoebe says.

"Issue? Why? What happened?" Piper asks.

" _Being of creativity  
Show yourself now to me.  
Your light that shines upon our face,  
Let our vision now embrace."_ Phoebe chants.

Melody appears in a bright light standing next to Phoebe.

"Melody?" Piper gasps as she walks to her and pulls her into a hug.

"Hey, Piper." Melody says sweetly, "I'm sorry for the commotion."

"What commotion?" Billie asks in confusion.

"Billie, this is Melody. She's our Muse." Phoebe introduces.

"A muse? This is so cool!" Billie says excitedly.

"When a muse is present for too long, tensions arise so that's probably why Piper and I almost at each other's throats earlier." Phoebe explains.

"Wow, that's good to know." Billie says as she clears her throat.

"So back to the question, what's going on now?" Piper asks.

"I'll let you tell it." Phoebe says as she steps back and sits down.

"One of our muses went rogue and she killed three of her charges in the last week." Melody says as her voice begins to break.

"Evil muses?" Paige asks, "Why would a muse turn evil? It doesn't make sense."

"I would like to know the same thing. Calliope is the head muse in charge so it's a devastating blow to our community that she would do something like this." Melody says, still reeling in from the actions of her fellow sister.

"Calliope?" Leo asks as his eyebrows raise and turns to Coop, "Isn't that the name of the woman you saw yesterday at the club?"

"You saw her?" Phoebe asks as she grills her husband, but Coop's mind seems to be elsewhere.

"I'm not sure exactly what I saw." Coop answers in a monotone voice.

"Wait a minute…" Billie says as she begins to fish through her purse. Seconds later, she pulls out a white sheet of paper and hands it to Melody, "Does that look familiar?"

"Yes! That's her mark. That's Calliope's sign. The writing pad and the quill are her sigils." Melody answers.

"Where did those come from?" Phoebe asks as she takes the pictures from Melody and looks at them.

"From Darryl. This was from the case he called you about yesterday." Billie answers.

"So it's safe to say that Calliope is behind this." Paige chimes in.

"Yup." Piper adds.

"So what do we do now?" Billie asks.

"It's kind of hard to track a muse as it is and with an evil muse who does whatever she wants, she's going to be damn near impossible to find." Phoebe says.

"Book of Shadows?" Paige asks.

"Book of Shadows." Phoebe repeats as she walks away.

"Oh, honey…." Paige says looking at Henry, "Can you take the kids to school today? I know it was my turn today but you know…duty calls."

"Sure thing." Henry answers as he kisses her.

The Charmed Ones, Billie, Henry and Melody walk away, leaving Coop and Leo behind. Coop looks at Leo with a smile.

"You up for some trashy daytime television?" Coop asks.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

As Henry pulls into the parking lot of their school, the children jump out of the truck and scatter to all corners of the school grounds; Wyatt and Chris walk straight towards their school, Henry Jr. runs with Paisley and Paris towards their friends; and Mellie and the twins stroll through the common area with the crowd of students as they pour into the halls of the elementary school.

As the school bell rings commencing the start of the school day, Tricia walks into the girls' bathroom and locks the door shut. She turns on all of the lights and takes off her backpack. She opens her backpack and takes out a few ingredients and the aged paper she ripped from the Book of Shadows. She unfolds the page and begins to read the instructions to herself.

"Crush the dry pomegranate seeds in the mortal with the pestle until powdered form…"

She drops the seeds into the mortal and grinds the seeds for a few moments. She keeps stopping and checking to see if the seeds were completely crushed and resume when they didn't meet her expectations.

"I think that should be enough…" Tricia says, "Next…"

"Burn the marshmallow root and mix the ashes with the powdered pomegranate seeds."

Tricia takes out a green lighter in one hand and picks up the root with the other. She lights up the root and telekinetically suspends the root over the mortar below. The root disintegrates into ash and falls into the mortar.

"Cool…" Tricia whispers as she takes another look at the instructions.

"Add five drops of lavender oil and stir in coordination of the sun's travels from east to west 12 times."

"Coordination of the sun?" Tricia whispers to herself as she looks around. She takes a little bottle of lavender oil with a pipette. She squeezes the top of the pipette and sucks up a little bit of the lavender and then counts softly as she adds the required amount of drops into the mortar. She takes a stirrer and stirs the concoction gently, from right to left.

The handle to the bathroom jiggles for a moment and followed by a bang.

"Who's in there?!" a girl can be heard screaming on the other side.

"I had an accident, I'm almost done!" Tricia screams.

"You know that there's more than one stall in there, right?" the girl yells.

"I know. Give me a second, please."

Tricia takes a deep breath and reads the final part of the instructions.

"Read the spell over the mixture of ingredients to activate the spell."

Tricia looks at the bottom paragraph of the page containing the spell and hesitates. She looks at herself in the mirror of the bathroom as numerous questions run through her mind. Doubt clouds her mind but her desperation outweighed her conscience and better judgment. The excuses she conjured to answer her questions made her actions completely justifiable.

"Here goes nothing." Tricia says as she begins to chant.

" _God of Sun, hear my plea  
Your power now, I call to thee.  
Cross the sky from east to west  
Enslave their senses with my zest.  
Capture their thoughts, ensnare their minds  
Fall in a trance, so sayeth I_"

A pink flame shoots from the mortar, rising up towards the vent directly above Tricia. The flame travels through the vents, turning into a vapor; spreading and exiting through any orifice it can find. As students and teachers settle into their homerooms, the pink vapor hovers above them, inhaling it without knowing.

Tricia unlocks the bathroom door and steps outside. She sees two girls standing outside the door. The girl banging on the door looks at Tricia angrily and in a split second, her behavior changes.

"Tricia?!" the girl asks.

"Yes?" Tricia responds, "Do I know you?"

"Girl, it's me! Natalie! If I knew it was you, I wouldn't have been banging on the door like that. Don't mind me; you know I was just playing." She says with a laugh.

"Excuse me; I have to get to class." Tricia says as she sidesteps the girl standing in front of her.

"Do you want me to carry your books for you? It looks heavy." Natalie offers.

"No, I think I'm good." Tricia answers.

"No, girl! Don't be so modest. We got you!" she says as she looks at her friend and snaps her fingers, "Jessica, get homegirl's books."

Jessica walks up to Tricia and takes her books and adds it to hers.

"Are you sure?" Tricia asks with a nervous laugh.

"Where are we going?" Jessica asks.

"We'll follow you wherever you go. Just say the word." Natalie says.

"Mrs. Costa's first period class." Tricia says with a little bit of hesitation.

"After you, girl!" Natalie says in a chipper tone.

Tricia turns around and begins to walk down the hallway with the two girls directly behind her. A smile grows on her face as she walks down the empty corridor.

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"I still can't believe muses exist!" Billie says as she walks into the attic, following Piper, Phoebe and Paige.

"After ten years of doing this, does this really surprise you?" Piper asks as she opens the Book of Shadows. Phoebe and Paige flank her, reading through the pages as Piper flips through them.

"I've never seen a muse in ten years so yeah, it does."

"Well then genies and trolls exist too so knock yourself out with that one." Piper states as she flips through the book, "Okay, here we go: Muses."

"It doesn't say anything about evil muses." Paige says as she scans the page.

"Well, we haven't dealt with evil muses before so it makes sense." Piper says as she looks up, "Melody, what do you think?"

"Calliope is the first one of us to go down this path so I'm in the dark as well." Melody says.

"Then we have to put it the clues together to figure this out." Phoebe says, "What do we know so far?"

"She has been killing her charges lately." Paige chimes in.

"Yeah, but how?" Phoebe wonders as she walks to the couch and sits down, "What powers does an evil muse have?"

"They wouldn't have any more or less than a regular muse." Melody says.

"Ok, so how did her charges die?" Piper asks.

"The first one was killed in a car accident, the second one was killed by the police after robbing a store, and the third died in a fire." Billie explains.

"So what is the common denominator for all three?" Paige asks.

"From their files, they were all outstanding citizens so their actions' leading to their death was very questionable." Billie answers.

"Melody, is it possible for a muse to inspire too much creativity?" Phoebe asks.

"I guess so. Why do you ask?" Melody asks.

"What if Calliope used her powers to inspire these people to do things they wouldn't normally do? Inspiring people to be more courageous than they've ever been or inspire them to pursue something they will usually never do?" Phoebe asks.

"Can muses do that?" Billie asks, "Because that's borderline mind control."

"Why not?" Paige answers, "A muse being in a room for too long creates so much tension and that's not even on purpose. Imagine actually harnessing that part of your powers to make it work in your favor. That's diabolical."

"That's the difference. Knowing you have the power to control the minds of your charges but we use our powers to do good." Melody says.

"But why?" Phoebe asks, "Why would she do that?"

"Does evil need a reason to be evil?" Piper asks.

"I get that but usually a good magical being turning evil? There's usually a reason for that." Phoebe says.

"Do you know why?" Paige asks Melody, to which Melody shakes her head in response.

"So what do we do now?" Billie asks.

"We find her and vanquish her." Piper says, flipping through the Book.

"How do you vanquish a muse? They don't exist on our planes for us to even attempt to vanquish her." Paige asks.

"We can use the ring of inspiration to vanquish her." Piper suggests. She stops flipping through the Book and looks at her sisters for answers.

"The ring cannot be used to vanquish her." Melody says, shutting Piper's idea down, "The ring is meant to boost inspiration, not to vanquish evil."

"Well, for having a muse in the room, we are sure falling flat on our faces with ideas." Billie whines.

"We just need to try harder." Piper says, sounding a little discouraged.

"If you sounded like you meant that, maybe that would help a little bit." Phoebe says.

"What does that mean?" Piper asks defensively.

"You've had this bad attitude lately and I'm getting sick of it." Phoebe says.

"Bad attitude?" Piper laughs, "I don't have a bad attitude."

"Maybe I should get going." Melody says but Phoebe and Piper's voices overpower hers.

"Really? Don't think your cheap shots and little side comments haven't gone unnoticed." Phoebe says.

"Side comments about what?"

"The other night at dinner, with the 'bad boy' comment." Phoebe says in an agitated tone.

"It's not my fault that you're extremely sensitive to a joke." Piper scoffs.

"And yesterday and this morning about Coop and the breakfast thing. The little comment you made about that too? You didn't even need to say anything. Your actions said it all."

"Of course it did, you see everything." Piper says as she rolls her eyes.

"Ok, guys?" Paige tries to interrupt but has no success.

"Admit it, Piper. You're just mad because Coop stole the one thing you're good at; being a cook and you're jealous."

"Jealous?!" Piper's voice rises as she laughs, "You really have no clue."

A loud whistle sounds the air and everyone in the attic groans for a moment.

"Sisters, can we retire to our corners and really talk about what matters here?!" Paige intervenes. She turns to Melody and sighs, "Melody, no offense but your presence here is not really helping right now."

"You read my mind. Just summon me when you need me." Melody says as she closes her eyes and fades out of sight.

"Now you two!" Paige turns to her sisters, "Can we retract our claws long enough for us to find Calliope and vanquish her?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

"Good. Now, I think I have an idea of how to find her and maybe vanquish her but I can't do that with two bickering sisters." Paige says.

"Fine." Phoebe says, "What do you have in mind?"

Paige smiles as she folds her arms, drumming her fingers on her forearm.

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"When it comes to three year old Cody…" Maury says as he pauses for dramatic effect, "You are NOT the father!"

"I told you!" Coop screams as he jumps up and points at Leo, "That's a drink you owe me."

"Alright, calm down." Leo laughs quietly, "I got you your beer."

Coop settles down and takes a huge chug of a beer sitting in front of him. Leo looks back and sees the messy dining room table littered with food from breakfast.

"Uh, Coop. Are we going to get to that soon because I have to go to the club in a few hours and I don't want to stick you with the clean-up?"

"Don't worry about it, bro." Coop says as he snaps his fingers. A pink glow highlights the table and as the light disappears, the clutter disappears along with it. Leo looks at Coop with a puzzled look.

"Are you okay, man?"

"Yeah. Why do you guys keep asking me that?"

"I don't know; you seem a little different."

"Define 'different'." Coop says as he takes a swig of his beer,

"You using magic after your whole tirade against personal gain, your carefree attitude and now you're drinking beer?"

"I've drunk beer before…"

"Yeah, at the bar with the guys and even then, Henry has to pressure you to drink before you even attempt to do so. This isn't you. You've been different ever since…" Leo pauses as a look of realization creeps upon his face.

"She got to you, didn't she?" Leo asks.

"Who did?"

"Calliope."

"So what if she did? She helped break me out of my shell." Coop says.

"Come on, Coop. You can't possibly believe that." Leo says as he stands up, "We've got to tell the wives."

Coop waves his hand and sends Leo flying through the glass door behind him. Leo falls onto the ground and slides across the floor in the conservatory, unconscious. Coop walks up to Leo and shakes his head. Calliope appears alongside Coop.

"You know, I think you might be my favorite charge yet…" she says with a smile, "We have some work to do."

TO BE CONTINUED


	16. 10x08: We Are Not Amused (3)

**10x08: We Are Not Amused (Part 3)**

Chris sits in the library in front of a computer, his fingers slapping the keys of the keyboard as he types his research paper. Bianca shimmers in next to him, causing him to jump.

"Jesus!" Chris whispers loudly, startled.

"I got you, didn't I?" Bianca laughs as she kisses Chris on the cheek.

"It's not funny." Chris says in a serious tone, "You wouldn't be laughing if I orbed in and scared you too."

"First of all, you won't succeed because it takes you whitelighters thirty years just to orb into a room and secondly, you cannot scare me. It's damn near impossible."

"You keep telling yourself that." Chris laughs, "So what are you doing here?"

"Just came to see what my boyfriend is doing." Bianca answers with a smile as she rests her head on Chris' shoulders.

"Boyfriend? Since when?"

"Since yesterday after that romantic setting." Bianca says, "Or do you disagree."

"Oh, I agree. I just wasn't sure where we stood after that."

"Well, now you know." Bianca says as she leans in for a kiss. Chris looks around quickly and kisses Bianca. Bianca smiles as they pull apart.

"Are you sure you've never kissed another girl before?" Bianca asks, "You're a really good kisser."

"I guess it's a natural talent I have." Chris answers.

"I have to admit, I have an ulterior motive as to why I came to see you."

"Really? What is it?" Chris asks in his naturally soft spoken voice.

"Well, homecoming is right around the corner and I was wondering if you would be my date to the dance?"

"Aren't I supposed to be the one to ask you to the dance?"

"It's 2017 dude, times have changed." Bianca laughs, "Besides, if I left it up to you, I'd be going to the dance alone."

"No you wouldn't have…"

"Well would you have asked me?" Bianca asks.

"No, because that's not my thing and I'm a freshman, you're a junior. People are going to stare and talk and I don't like being the center of attention."

"Well, I don't care if you're a freshman, and I don't care about what other people think. I like you and you like me and that should be enough for both of us right now." Bianca says, "So what do you say?"

"I'll think about it."

"Come on!" Bianca shouts and the librarian shoots them a furious glance, accompanied with a loud "Shhh!"

"Keep it down! You do realize you're in a library, right?" Chris whispers.

"Exactly." Bianca says, "I'll keep yelling until you give me an answer."

"Fine! I'll go with you but I'm not putting on a tie or none of that proper crap." Chris compromises.

"I wouldn't want you to even if you did." Bianca smiles as she kisses Chris on the cheek and shimmers out of the library. Chris looks around nervously for a quick second and then looks at his computer screen with a smile.

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The students of the 5th grade class buzz with endless chatter as they wait for their third period class to begin. Tricia walks into her class with a horde of girls strolling in behind her. The class falls silent as all eyes fall on Tricia. Mellie catches Tricia's eye and waves at her cousin. Tricia flips her hair and ignores Mellie as she takes her seat.

The teacher walks into the classroom and places her bag on her desk. She looks up to see Tricia seated in the midst of 10-15 girls, some brushing her hair, some filing her nails and one girl standing to her left feeding her grapes while the girl on her right puts a straw in a cup to Tricia's lips to drink to her heart's content.

"Uh, what's going on?" the teacher asks.

"Don't mind them, Ms. Soto. Just carry on, pretend they're not here." Tricia says calmly with a smirk.

A calm and peaceful look grows on Ms. Soto's face as she shakes her head and begins to apologize.

"I'm sorry for questioning you, Tricia. The girls can stay for as long as you want them to." Ms. Soto says as she turns around and stands behind her desk, "Please pass the homework assignment from yesterday to the front of the class please."

"Uh, Ms. Soto?" one of the girls behind Tricia calls out.

"Yes?"

Tricia whispers into the girl's ear.

"Tricia would like you to know that she didn't do the homework." The girl says.

"Oh, that's alright! Tricia is the only one exempt from doing the assignment." Ms. Soto says with a smile.

Tricia nods happily and snaps her fingers. The girl immediately walks behind her and resumes brushing her hair.

Mellie stands up and walks up to Tricia.

"Hey, Tricia…" Mellie whispers.

"What do you want?" one of Tricia's minions answers.

"Can I be part of your entourage?" Mellie asks respectfully.

Tricia's smile grows as she leans over and whispers to the girl feeding her the grapes.

"She says she'll think about it." The girl says, "Away you go, now."

Mellie bows and walks back to her seat. Tricia looks at her cousin and basks in the success of her spell. Any ounce of equivocation that lingered in her mind before has been washed away by the abundance of love and attention she had wanted but never within her grasp.

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The high school cafeteria was a cacophony of loud chatter; each table cosseted a huddle of people raising their voices to be heard above the din. Wyatt sits at his table playing with his food, looking utterly disgusted that this type of food is served to growing boys and girls in a first world country. Dom joins him shortly after, carrying a tray of sloppy joes and fries as he sits down across the table from him.

With a quick prayer, Dom dives into his lunch, inhaling the food with no issue. Wyatt watches his best friend with a sickened look etched all over his face. Dom looks up at Wyatt with his mouth full.

"What?"

"How can you enjoy this nasty ass food?" Wyatt asks.

"It's not half bad once you add salt, a little bit of seasoning and hot sauce…" Dom answers as he takes another bite of his sloppy joe sandwich. Dom looks over at Wyatt's lunch tray and points at it.

"Yeah, you can have it…" Wyatt says as he pushes the tray towards Dom, who adds Wyatt's food to his with glee.

"You're missing out, man." Dom says as he shovels the food into his mouth.

"When you grow up with a mom who serves you gourmet meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you'd understand my plight." Wyatt mumbles.

"Hey, I can understand your plight. She cooked for me too. I miss it actually." Dom sighs.

"Anyway, I think today is going to be the day…" Wyatt says as he leans closer to Dom.

"The day for what?" Dom asks without taking his eyes off his tray.

"For me to find myself a date for homecoming." Wyatt says with a big smile.

"It's been weeks since the pep rally and you're now just searching for a date?" Dom asks in disbelief.

"I have found someone; I was just waiting for the right moment."

"Good for you, bro!" Dom says as he takes a huge bite, "Who are you going to ask?"

"Bianca." Wyatt whispers.

Dom pauses and looks around for a quick second and begins laughing.

"You're a funny guy, Wy. I never took you to be the joker of the group. That's my job." Dom says, "I could've sworn that you said Bianca's name."

"I did."

"Why?!" Dom yells, "Of all of the girls in the school, you decide to ask the devil incarnate herself? The she-witch of Ike High School?"

"You're over-exaggerating, Dominic."

"Over-exaggerating?" Dom asks in a high pitch voice, "There's something about that girl I don't like. I just can't put my finger on it."

"Just give it time, Dom. You'll grow to like her like I have."

"That is highly unlikely, man." Dom says, "I can tolerate her in the same space as me but not like her. I can't do that."

"Not even for me?"

"Fool, the girl ain't even said yes to you yet." Dom says.

"I have a feeling she will." Wyatt says with confidence, "You know why?"

"Of course because you're King Midas." Dom says as he rolls his eyes.

"I'm King Midas."

"Everything you touch turns to gold." Dom adds, "But listen, just because everything always went your way since we were kids, doesn't mean you're not going to get turned down one day. That King Midas nickname only applies to you on the football field, that's it."

"Well, funny how it applies to my life outside the field too."

"Okay…" Dom says as he leans back and takes a sip of his drink, "Be careful when it comes to her. My gut says that she's not to be trusted and my gut never lies."

"Well, one of us is going to be wrong; either your gut is lying or my golden touch has reached its end, and it's highly unlikely that it's going to be me."

"Hmmm." Dom says as he takes another bite and responds to Wyatt with his mouth full, "If you say so."

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In the cafeteria within the building next door, Chris approaches Mellie and sits down at the table with the twins sitting down next to her. Mellie, wearing a somber look stirs her fruit punch juice with a straw without acknowledging her brother's presence. Her right hand was balled into a fist and her head rested gently on top of it.

"Hey, guys." Chris waves at his cousins.

"Hey Chris!" the twins say in unison.

"So what's for lunch today?" Chris asks Mellie who continues stir the drink without answering.

"Uh, Mel? Are you okay?" Chris asks but receives no answer. He turns to the twins.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Tricia." Gabby answers.

"Tricia? What did she do now?" Chris asks.

"She doesn't want to be my friend." Mellie whines.

"She doesn't want to be your friend?" Chris asks, feeling a little bit perplexed, "Since when do you care?"

"Since forever!" Mellie says, "She's pretty, and smart and popular and I really, really want to be her friend."

"Wait, you lost me." Chris says, still trying to gain some clarity.

"Tricia is the most popular girl in school. Even for a fifth grader, the seventh and eighth graders want to hang with her all the time now." Penny explains.

"Since when?" Chris asks.

"Since today." Mellie says.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Chris asks his sister.

Tricia walks into the cafeteria with her flock behind her. The crowd surrounding her had grown within the last three hours, mindlessly following her around and doing her bidding. The cafeteria falls silent upon seeing Tricia and the loud chatter reduces to mere whispers amongst each other. Chris looks around, dumbfounded.

"Hello, Christopher…" Tricia says in a bourgeois tone.

"Christopher? Since when do you call me Christopher?"

"Penelope, Gabrielle…" Tricia nods at her cousins.

"Hey, Tricia." The twins sound off in unison.

"I think I have room for two more in my entourage and seeing as how we're family…" Tricia says with a smile and she looks back. She snaps at the two girls standing directly behind her and snaps her fingers. The two girls take a couple of steps backward and Tricia turns to face her cousins once more.

"What do you say?" Tricia asks.

Without hesitation, the twins look at each other and jump up. They race and fight over each other walking over to Tricia and position themselves on each side.

"That's much better." Tricia sighs.

"What about me?" Mellie asks in a sad tone.

"I think I have enough friends. You'll be fine, darling." Tricia says with a cold smile, "Kiss, kiss!"

Tricia snaps her fingers and walks away, with her whole crew right behind her.

"What the hell was all of that about? There's something crazy going on…" Chris asks Mellie but pauses when he sees Mellie almost in tears, "Mel?"

"I got to go, Chris." Mellie says as she stands up.

"Mellie?"

"I'll see you later." Mellie says as she runs out of the cafeteria.

Chris's eyes move from the exit of the cafeteria to Tricia's table, who is sitting in the center of her friends with the twins feeding her.

"What are you up to? What did you do?" Chris ponders to himself.

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Billie paces back and forth in the attic while Paige, Phoebe and Piper concoct two separate potions on the round table with the Book lying open in the center, surrounded by ingredients.

"So let me get this straight." Billie begins, "You guys are going to turn the muse corporeal and then vanquish her with a power of three potion?"

"Yup!" Phoebe says as she grinds a couple of ingredients together with a mortar and pestle.

"You've done this before?" Billie asks.

"Yup." Phoebe says, "The same potion I used to make Mr. Right into Mr. Real should work on her. Just with a minor adjustments. Only thing we have to do is shift her from her plane into ours long enough for us to use the potion on her and then…"

Phoebe pauses as she drops one final ingredient into her potion as it creates a loud explosion and releases a white cloud of smoke.

"Voila!" Phoebe says with a smile.

"Wait a minute…Mr. Right?" Billie asks with a smile.

"Don't look at me." Phoebe says as she points to Piper and Paige.

"It's a long story, don't ask." Paige says as she shakes her head.

"Good, I wasn't going to." Billie says with a smile, "It's amazing how I've been doing this for a long time and it seems like I have so much more to learn."

Piper looks up at Billie and smiles,

"The Power of Three potion is almost done; we just need to bless it." Paige says as she grabs the athame and pokes her finger and adding her drops of blood into the potion. The potion begins to sizzle.

"Can't we just start using tears since it serves the same purpose?" Phoebe whines.

"This is easier." Piper says as she grabs the blade from Paige and pricks her thumb and squeezes a few droplets of blood into the potion as the potion begins to boil. Piper hands the blade to Phoebe.

"I can cry on command, I really can." Phoebe says as she closes her eyes and begins to yawn.

"Phoebe, if I slap you really hard, will you cry then so we can finish this?" Piper asks.

"Ugh, you're no fun." Phoebe says as she pricks her finger and adds her blood to the potion, creating another minor explosion.

"So what's the next step?" Paige asks.

"We find out where Calliope is and then take care of business." Piper answers.

"How are you guys going to do that?" Billie asks.

"Muses usually stick around the same charges so I'm thinking she's probably still with the guy from Piper's club." Paige answers, "We find him and maybe we can track her from there."

"Still, how are you guys going to track someone we cannot see?" Billie asks.

"Since the Book states that only angelic beings can see them, I was thinking maybe Coop might be able to help us?" Phoebe answers, "We're going to call it Operation C."

"Okay then. Sounds like a plan." Billie says happily, "I guess you just have to summon Coop now."

Coop walks into the attic with his hands in his pockets. He looks around maliciously and then crosses his arms.

"Coop, honey. We were just about to call for you." Phoebe says as she walks over to her husband and plants a kiss, "We need your help."

"Sure, anything you need."

"We need you to help us find Calliope. You're the only one who can help us with that." Paige says.

"And what do you plan to do after you find her?" Coop asks.

"Just use these two potions to make her solid and then vanquish her." Piper answers.

"Well, I say look no further!" a woman's voice can be heard yelling.

The girls look around but cannot see anyone.

"Coop, where is she? Can you see her?" Phoebe asks.

Coop smiles as he looks down at Phoebe.

"Yes, I do."

"Where is she?" Paige asks.

Coop raises his hands and sends Billie, Phoebe, Paige and Piper flying through the air and they crash into various objects in the attic. Phoebe groans as she tries to stand up, looking around and finds Billie unconscious next to her.

"What the hell was that?!" Piper yells as she tries to stand up.

Calliope materializes next to Coop and rests her arm on his shoulder.

"This soldier of love is my soldier now." Calliope says with a smile.

"Paige? The potion!" Piper yells.

Paige waves her hand and telekinetically moves one of the potions, cracking open at Calliope's feet. A cloud of smoke rises and Calliope glows for a moment.

"Restrain them!" Calliope orders.

Coop snaps his fingers and a pink barrier blocks and holds each of the girls in place individually.

"Good boy…" Calliope compliments.

Phoebe stares at her husband, lost and confused.

"So much for Operation C!" Piper shouts to her sisters.

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As the school bell rings signaling the final period of the school day, Chris walks to his locker and opens it up. He tosses his books into the locker and takes out the last text book he needs for the day. As he slams the locker shut, he sees Dom standing right next to him, causing Chris to jump.

"What the hell, man?!" Chris screams.

"Sorry to startle you but I think you're the only one who can help me." Dom says.

"Help you with what?"

"Your brother." Dom answers, "He's gone crazy."

"What did he do now?" Chris says as he begins to walk, with Dom trailing behind him.

"It's about that she-devil, Bianca." Dom says.

"Bianca?" Chris says as he stops walking abruptly, "What happened to her?"

"What happened to her? Nothing." Dom says, "She's just bad news, man."

"She's not all that bad." Chris laughs nervously, "Give her a chance, she'll grow on you."

"See? This is how I know you guys are brothers." Dom says, "He said the exact same thing."

"He did?"

"Yeah, and he kept going on and on about how he's infatuated with her and how he wants to ask her to the homecoming dance and maybe be his girlfriend" Dom says as he pauses, "Maybe not be his girlfriend but you know that's the next step after the dance."

"He really said all of that?" Chris asks as a bleak look begins to creep all over his face.

"Yeah." Dom says, "It's like he cannot think straight all of a sudden as if she's got him under some kind of spell…"

A look of realization quickly replaces Chris' somber face as his eyes slowly shift to Dom's.

"…It's crazy. I won't be surprised if she actually did that. I don't trust her."

"What did you just say?" Chris asks Dom, trying to connect the dots together.

"I said I don't trust Bianca?"

"No, no. The last thing before that."

"That Wyatt cannot think straight all of a sudden?"

"No, the part after that." Chris asks as if Dom's words were the answer to the question that had plagued him the whole day.

"She probably got him under a spell?"

"A spell…" Chris whispers, "That's it. Dom, you're a genius!"

"I know. Tell me something I don't know." Dom says with a smile, "Where are you going?!"

"I got to go take care of something." Chris says as he runs down the crowded hallway.

"What about Wyatt?!" Dom asks.

"Later!" Chris says as he opens the front door of the school and runs out.

"I'm a genius." Dom says proudly to himself, "Maybe I'm best friends with the wrong brother, Wyatt needs to appreciate my talents more."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Bianca walks down the hallway, heading to her next class with her books in her arms.

"Bianca!" she hears a voice calling out to her, "Bianca, wait up!"

Bianca slows down and turns around, looking into the crowd to see where the voice was coming from. Wyatt finally emerges from the crowd and reaches Bianca, heaving in and out.

"Hey, Wyatt. What's up?" Bianca says as she tucks her hair behind her ear.

"Is there anywhere we can go to talk?" Wyatt asks as he tries to catch his breath, "Somewhere quiet?"

"Um, I guess?" Bianca says as she points to an empty classroom behind Wyatt. Wyatt nods and opens the door for Bianca, who enters and Wyatt follows.

"What's up?" Bianca asks.

"I just wanted to ask you a simple question. I'm a little bit nervous so…"

"You? Nervous?" Bianca laughs, "You're King Midas for crying out loud."

"Yeah, but even I have my days." Wyatt laughs nervously.

"So what's on your mind?"

"Um, you know Homecoming is next weekend and I was wondering if you didn't already have a date…"

"Oh, no…" Bianca says sympathetically, "I already have a date to the dance."

"Of course you do." Wyatt says with disappointment in his voice, "It's my fault, I waited too long."

"I'm so sorry, Wyatt."

"No, it's okay. I don't know what I was thinking you wouldn't already have a date." Wyatt chuckles, "Well, whoever the guy is, he's very lucky."

"No, I'm the lucky one." Bianca smiles.

"Ok, so…"

"So do you have football practice today or can you make it to our training later tonight?" Bianca asks.

"I think I can make it today, I know I've been missing in action lately. Chris must be driving you crazy."

"Oh, no…" Bianca laughs, "We get along just fine…"

"That's good to hear."

"Well, hope to see you later. I can't wait to show you guys what the next step of our training is." Bianca says.

"Mhm... " Wyatt hums as he watches Bianca walk out of the classroom.

"Damn it!" Wyatt whispers.

"DAMN IT!" he curses ;oudly as a wave of energy shoots out of his hands and sweeps the entire classroom, sending all the chairs and desks broken, singed and piled up in the back of the classroom. Wyatt looking shocked backs away from the scene; opens the door and slips out quietly into the now empty hallway. The smoldering and broken furniture falls apart as he closes the door.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Chris opens the doors of the elementary school and gasps at the sight that unfolds before his eyes. Hair pulling, fist throwing, screams, glasses smashing and elbow dropping kind of commotion. Loose leaves of paper flew everywhere, textbooks and chairs were being used as offensive and defensive weapons. Included in this large brawl were teachers who were trying to separate the students, mostly young girls from clawing each other's' eyes out.

At the risk of hurting himself, Chris drops to the ground and begins to crawl through the rumble taking place all around him. He sees his sister on the other side of the hallway fighting with the twins.

"Mel!" he screams as he tries to maneuver himself through the crowd, "Melinda!"

"She said I was her favorite cousin, not you!" Penny screeches.

"Well, you obviously lost your mind!" Gabby cries as she shoves Penny against the locker.

Mellie grabs Gabby by the hair and pulls her to the ground. The two begin to tumble and Penny jumps into the brawl. Chris eventually reaches the three bickering girls and tries his best to separate them but has no success.

Chris "She said I was her favorite cousin, not you!" Penny screeches.

"Well, you obviously lost your mind!" Gabby cries as she shoves Penny against the locker.

Mellie grabs Gabby by the hair and pulls her to the ground. The two begin to tumble and Penny jumps into the brawl. Chris eventually reaches the three bickering girls and tries his best to separate them but has no success.

Chris "She said I was her favorite cousin, not you!" Penny screeches.

"Well, you obviously lost your mind!" Gabby cries as she shoves Penny against the locker.

Mellie grabs Gabby by the hair and pulls her to the ground. The two begin to tumble and Penny jumps into the brawl. Chris eventually reaches the three bickering girls and tries his best to separate them but has no success.

Chris "She said I was her favorite cousin, not you!" Penny screeches.

"Well, you obviously lost your mind!" Gabby cries as she shoves Penny against the locker.

Mellie grabs Gabby by the hair and pulls her to the ground. The two begin to tumble and Penny jumps into the brawl. Chris eventually reaches the three bickering girls and tries his best to separate them but has no success.

Chris "She said I was her favorite cousin, not you!" Penny screeches.

"Well, you obviously lost your mind!" Gabby cries as she shoves Penny against the locker.

Mellie grabs Gabby by the hair and pulls her to the ground. The two begin to tumble and Penny jumps into the brawl. Chris eventually reaches the three bickering girls and tries his best to separate them but has no success.

Chris "She said I was her favorite cousin, not you!" Penny screeches.

"Well, you obviously lost your mind!" Gabby cries as she shoves Penny against the locker.

Mellie grabs Gabby by the hair and pulls her to the ground. The two begin to tumble and Penny jumps into the brawl. Chris eventually reaches the three bickering girls and tries his best to separate them but has no success.

Chris "She said I was her favorite cousin, not you!" Penny screeches.

"Well, you obviously lost your mind!" Gabby cries as she shoves Penny against the locker.

Mellie grabs Gabby by the hair and pulls her to the ground. The two begin to tumble and Penny jumps into the brawl. Chris eventually reaches the three bickering girls and tries his best to separate them but has no success.

He looks backwards for a moment and with a wave of his hand, he orbs the girls out of the hallway. He walks into a classroom nearby and sees the three girls still arguing, unaware of the change of their location.

"Enough!" he screams, which surprisingly catches their attention, "What the hell are you guys doing?!"

"Tricia said I could hang out with her after school and Penny and Mellie want to come." Gabby begins to explain.

"That's a lie!" Mellie cuts her off.

"I don't know why you're even talking," Penny snaps, "Tricia doesn't even like you!"

"Where exactly is Tricia?" Chris asks.

"Oh my God." Penny gasps, "We left Tricia behind! She's not going to forgive us!"

"Jesus Christ, forget Tricia for a second! She put you guys under a spell. She put the whole damn school under a spell, do you not see that?!" Chris screams out his frustration.

"We cannot forget Tricia. She's the best cousin a person can ask for." Mellie says.

"Ok, can you guys not tear each other's eyes out while I go look for Tricia? I'd like to bring her back here to you guys and find you guys in one piece." Chris pleads, "Can you do that for me?"

The girls look at each other and then at Chris and nod.

"Good." Chris sighs. He walks out of the classroom and walks through the fighting crowd. He sees a few people banging on the bathroom door, screaming.

"Tricia!" the girl yells, "We love you!"

"Well, I guess I found her." Chris says as he walks opens the door to a custodian closet and shuts it. A familiar mixture of blue and white lights can be seen at crevices of the door.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Tricia sits on the bench in her bathroom, looking around nervously. She jumps up when she sees the orbs appear in the bathroom and Chris materializes. Chris folds his arms and shakes his head.

"Don't judge me, okay?" Tricia shouts.

"You bit off more than you could chew, didn't you? From the looks of it, it's the enthrallment spell. Am I right?"

"You don't know what I have been going through!" Tricia says as she begins to break down and cry, "I didn't mean for all of this to happen."

"You cast a spell for your own personal gain and you are surprised that you cannot deal with the consequences?" Chris says, "This is how magic works."

"Thanks for the life lesson; this is not the time for that." Tricia shouts, "Can you help me fix it or not?"

"I can if you ask nicely." Chris says with a smile.

"Please?!" Tricia yells.

"I know you can do better than that." Chris says with a smirk.

"Please. I really need you to help me stop all of this." Tricia pleads.

"Fine." Chris sighs as he walks towards Tricia, "Do you have a lighter, pen and paper?"

Tricia nods and immediately starts rummaging through her backpack. She pulls out all of the items Chris asked for.

"What oil did you use for the spell?" Chris asks, "And how many drops?"

"Lavender and five drops."

Chris nods and scribbles a quick spell. He takes the lavender oil and sprinkles five drops on the piece of paper containing the reversal spell. He grabs the lighter and lights the paper on fire.

"Hold my hand…" Chris says as he extends his palm, "The spell is stronger when more than one witch recites it."

Tricia grabs Chris' hand and together, they begin to chant:

 _"Guided spirits,_  
 _Hear our plea._  
 _Annul this magic,_  
 _Let it be._ "

A blue and pink light emanates from the two witches and sweeps the entire school. Those outside in the halls absorb the light and immediately, the fighting and brawling ceases. They all look around at each other, bewildered. Tricia and Chris walk out of the bathroom and nervously look around at the fellow students and faculty, covered in bruises and scratches.

"Is there any way we can at least erase the damage I caused?" Tricia asks.

"No, that's something you have to carry with you as a lesson to be learned but maybe I can fix up the school a little bit." Chris says as he steps deeper into the crowd.

 _"Let the object of objection become but a dream, As I cause the seen to be unseen…"_

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-  
**_

In the attic of the Halliwell Manor, Coop stands in the center with Calliope pacing back and forth.

"Coop? Coop, look at me!" Phoebe calls to her husband but her pleas fall on deaf ears.

"Oh, this isn't your husband anymore." Calliope says, "He's under my spell now."

"What did you do to him?!" Billie asks angrily.

"I didn't do anything he didn't want to do." Calliope says, "I merely tapped into the part of him that craved for this and brought it to the surface."

"That's a lie. Coop doesn't have an evil bone in his body." Paige shouts.

"You're right, he doesn't. But everyone has a part of them they suppress, their inner wants and desires they are afraid to act upon. I merely give them a boost to take action, lower their inhibitions and let them go at it." Calliope explains.

"And then you kill them, is that it?" Piper asks.

"I don't kill anyone, darling…" Calliope says calmly, "Their lowered inhibitions drive them to their own self destruction. That's on them, not me."

"Why are you doing this?" Phoebe asks tearfully.

"I was tired of being a creature of good magic, inspiring others to realize and reach their full potential and receiving nothing in return. Living vicariously through my charges after a few centuries gets boring after a while."

"What does that even get you? What does hurting and killing your charges do for you?" Paige asks.

"When they tether close to the brink of self destruction, they are driven to commit acts that taint their souls. I siphon the power of their souls before they are lost forever, making me more powerful than ever." Calliope explains.

"You ever hear of the phrase, 'Power corrupts'? Too much power is bad for you but I guess it's too late for you now." Billie says.

"I'm not doing this for kicks!" Calliope snaps, "This is for self-preservation."

"Self-preservation? For what?" Paige asks.

"For the upcoming Dark War between good and evil." Calliope answers, "Muses may be powerful but we are not that powerful to defend ourselves when the war comes."

"The Dark War?" Piper asks, puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"

"You've got to be kidding me." Calliope laughs, "You are the ones prophesized to lead us into battle and you don't even know of the Dark War?"

"Coop, look at me!" Phoebe says, continuously pleading to her husband, "You can resist her! Let our love bring you back to me!"

"All of this is touching, it really is." Calliope smiles, "But the only person he'll listen to is me."

"I can't give up. I won't." Phoebe thinks to herself as she looks up at Coop with tears in her eyes.

"Don't give up, Phoebe. You can still get through to him." Piper's voice can be heard saying. Phoebe looks at Piper confused.

"You heard that?" Phoebe asks Piper without saying a word.

"Yeah, I did. You can hear me too?" Piper asks.

"I can hear you three…" Paige chimes in. All three sisters begin communicating telepathically.

"But how?" Piper asks.

"Remember when the Crone took our senses and we were able to communicate mentally and psychically? I think that's what's going on now." Paige answers, "I guess we tapped into the connection."

"Connection! That's it!" Piper exclaims.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asks.

"You and Coop share that 'We are one' connection, so maybe you can tap into that and bring him back to his senses." Piper suggests.

"I've never done it on command before."

"Well, this is the time to try." Paige says, encouraging her sister.

"We'll keep her talking while you try to get to Coop." Piper says.

"What's going on?" Calliope asks. The silence in the room was too much for her to handle, "Why are you guys quiet all of a sudden?"

"What do you plan to do with us?" Paige asks.

"The same thing I did with dear old Coop here or maybe drive you guys to your own self destruction. The possibilities are endless!" Calliope answers.

"Yeah, you keep on telling yourself that." Piper says with a snarky tone, "I bet you will not live to see the sunset today."

"You were always the surly one, weren't you?" Calliope says as she walks closer to Piper.

"I see my reputation precedes me." Piper smiles in return.

"Right." Calliope whispers, "Coop, kill her."

Phoebe closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. She erases her thoughts and feelings plagued with fear and begins to think visions of love and feelings of warmth. She gasps as she is pulled into a premonition. Coop gasps loudly and is pulled into a premonition as well.

She sees herself standing next to Coop at their altar as the Angel of Destiny pronounces them husband and wife. She leans in for a kiss and then a bright flash occurs, changing the scene to Phoebe on the hospital bed with Coop by her side. Coop holds her hand as she screams, pushing their oldest daughter into the world. As Phoebe continues to push, time slows down as present Phoebe sees present Coop staring at them with tears in his eyes.

"Phoebe?" Coop asks as he walks closer to his wife.

"Come back to me, Coop." Present Phoebe says as she places her hand on Coop's cheek. Coop leans closer and as his lips meets Phoebe's, a bright pink flash surrounds them and they both come out of the premonition.

Phoebe opens her eyes and stares at her sisters and then at Coop, who stares at Phoebe with a tear streaking down his face.

"Coop?!" Calliope calls to Coop, who seems to be out in a trance, "Did you hear what I said? Kill her!"

Coop looks at Calliope and then looks at Piper, Phoebe and Paige. He waves his hand in the air and conjures a red arrow with the arrow head shaped like a heart.

"As you wish…" Coop says calmly as he bows his head. He levitates the arrow in the air and as a satisfying smile grows on Calliope's face, Coop grabs the arrow and plunges it into Calliope's heart. Calliope gasps as she stumbles backwards and then falls to her knees as a blue-like fire appears around her.

As her screams grow louder and with death imminent, the fire consumes her and disappears out of sight, leaving an echo of her screams. The quill burnt into Coop's forearm appears and small golden orbs erase the symbol from sight.

The pink barrier holding the sisters and Billie back disappear and Phoebe runs into her husband's arms.

"I'm sorry, Phoebe." Coop says as he hugs her tightly and looks at the sisters, "I really am. Sorry to you guys too."

"Nah, it's okay." Paige dismisses with a wave of her hand, "You're not really one of us until you've tried to kill your family."

Coop laughs out loud.

"What the hell was up with the silent looks between you three back there?" Billie asks.

"Something we forgot we had a long time ago." Phoebe answers.

"How were we able to do that all of a sudden? We only did that once." Paige asks.

"We tapped into it back then because we needed each other in a dire situation and the same thing happened to us now." Phoebe explains.

"For some reason, I think that we were able to tap into that connection because of Laylah stripping our powers." Piper ponders.

"Why do you say that?" Billie asks.

"We rely on each other more now than we did before and I think we were being robbed of becoming stronger together because of the secondary individual powers we had." Piper explains.

"So you think Laylah did the right thing?" Paige asks.

"She may be onto something after all." Piper smiles, "Don't tell her I said that."

"That sounds good and all but what about the Dark War thing that Calliope talked about?" Billie asks.

"I don't know. I think we should ask Laylah about that." Paige says.

"We can summon her in the morning and talk about it because I have an anniversary dinner to celebrate tonight." Phoebe says as she looks up at her husband.

"Yeah, I guess that can wait until the morning." Piper agrees, "I wonder where Leo is? Coop, do you have any idea where he is?"

Coop looks at Piper with a guilty face and then smiles nervously, "I kind of threw him through my conservatory door and knocked him unconscious."

Piper, Phoebe and Paige give him an angry look as Piper folds her arms.

"Did I mention that I am really, really sorry?" Coop apologizes once more.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-  
**_

The sun sinks lower into the sky as the light of day drains away, giving way to the velvety dark of night. Street lights click on, the headlights of the vehicles driving around the city of San Francisco turn on, barely making a difference against the orange hue in the sky. Tricia sits in her room staring out the window, lost deep within her thoughts. A light knock can be heard on her door which breaks her concentration.

"Come in." she says softly as she averts her eyes from the window. The door opens gently and Mellie pokes her head in. She looks around briefly to see the piles of boxes scattered everywhere, her pile of clothes littered all over her bed and her shoes spread all over the floor.

"Uncle Henry is taking us to the movies. Do you want to come with?" Mellie asks.

"No thank you. I'm not in the mood." she answers in a melancholy tone.

"Okay. I'll let him know." Mellie says as she begins to close the door but Tricia stops her.

"Wait!"

Mellie opens the door wider and steps into Tricia's room. Tricia stands up and walks closer to Mellie.

"I just want to uh…" Tricia begins to say but the words struggle to escape her lips, "You know…"

Mellie smiles gently and looks down, "No worries. No apologies necessary."

"Do you remember anything?" Tricia asks.

"Every single moment." Mellie answers.

"Great." Tricia says, sounding a little disappointed. Mellie nods awkwardly and slowly begins to back away.

"That's it?" Tricia asks, "You're not mad?"

"Mad about what?"

"I cast a spell on you and made you and the twins worship the ground I walked on. Hell, I turned the whole school into my personal assistants." Tricia says.

"No one is going to remember all of that except me, you, the twins and Chris so it's not a big deal. No need to stress it." Mellie explains, "Can I ask you something though? Why did you do it? Why did you cast the spell?"

"You wouldn't understand." Tricia sighs as she walks to her bed and sits down.

"Try me."

"I just…" Tricia groans, "I was just tired of being the outcast. The outcast in school, the outcast at home; I just wanted to feel adored and recapture the life I had in Paris."

"First of all…" Mellie says as she shifts a few clothes off the bed and sits next to Tricia, "You're not an outcast anywhere. You decide what situation you put yourself in and move from there."

"You're popular in school; you have all the cousins look at you like you're Beyoncé."

"Beyoncé? That's a little bit farfetched but I wasn't always popular." Mellie says, "My whole life I was known as Wyatt's sister because of his athletic accomplishments or Chris' sister because of his academia. This is the first time people know me for who I am in school. Growing up in my brothers' shadow was something I have worked hard to shed."

"That's my point; at least people knew who you were because of your brothers." Tricia says, "Nobody knows me at all."

"It doesn't have to be that way. You have three cousins who can help you feel more at home and more comfortable. The only one stopping you is you."

"I know but I thought you'd be mad at me for the way I've been acting."

Mellie begins to laugh, "I don't hold any grudges, Trish. It robs us of the many things that make life worth living. You need to learn how to do the same."

Tricia shakes her head and looks down.

"I've always wanted sisters and that's what Penny and Gabby are to me. They're not my cousins; they're my sisters. You are my sister, if you want to me."

Tricia smiles as tears begin to form in her eyes and hugs Mellie. After they part, Tricia whispers "I'd like that."

"So, Wonder Woman with Uncle Henry. You don't want to miss out." Mellie says trying to coax Tricia into changing her mind.

"Fine, I guess I have nothing better to do anyway." Tricia says as she jumps up. She grabs her cousin's hand and they run out the door laughing and chatting together.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper sits on the couch in her living room with Leo's head on her lap. She strokes his head gently and kisses his forehead, which causes Leo to let out a silent wince.

"Sorry, honey." Piper says as she chuckles, "On the scale from one to ten, how bad is the pain?"

"Six, but it is slowly getting better." Leo answers, "Are you sure Coop was under a spell or whatever because I really need to have a talk with him."

"He was and he has apologized a million times." Piper laughs, "You know that Coop wouldn't hurt you on purpose."

"Guess you're right." Leo sighs, "It wouldn't hurt to hold a grudge against him for a little while longer though, make him suffer for a little bit."

"Are you sure Calliope didn't get to you too? Sounds a little petty." Piper says as she continues to run her fingers through his hair.

"Petty like you were acting this morning with Coop?" Leo asks.

"I wasn't being petty…" Piper denies with a smirk but Leo gives her a knowing glance which makes Piper change her stance, "Ok, fine. I was a little bit but cooking and bringing the family together for breakfast is my thing. It has been for the last ten years and I didn't like the feeling of being upstaged."

Leo groans as he props himself up and sits on the couch, "Upstaged? Piper, all he did was make breakfast for the family."

"I know but as the head of the family, I felt like he wanted to take that away from me." Piper says as Leo begins to laugh, "I know, I know…sounds stupid but that's how I feel. Phoebe was the street smart one, Prue was the book smart one, Paige was the artistic one and I am the chef."

"Listen to me…" Leo says as he grabs his wife's hand and looks into his eyes, "You carry everything on your shoulders when you don't have to. Maybe you should let Coop take this one off your hands. You already cook for the city of San Francisco, you can afford to let him take a couple of mornings off your hands."

"Fine! I guess you're right." Piper exhales loudly, sounding defeated.

"No matter how excellent Coop's cooking is, you'll always be the best chef in the family."

Piper smiles and kisses Leo and then sighs, "I guess I with me having to divide my time between here and Los Angeles, Coop will have to cook for you guys."

"The restaurant thing?" Leo asks.

"Yeah. I really want to do it but I don't want to leave just when Phoebe moves back home, the Power of Three is getting stronger and I'd miss the kids too much." Piper says with a sad tone.

"Then let me do it." Leo offers.

"Do what?"

"Let me go to Los Angeles. I'll go handle business over there and come home every weekend." Leo says, "It's not so bad."

"I can't let you do that, Leo."

"You don't have to. I want to do it. We're a team, Piper. You don't have to do everything yourself and you have to realize that." Leo says gently, "Let me go while you hold down the fort."

"What would I do without you?" Piper says with a tearful smile.

"Suffer endlessly?" Leo laughs as Paige walks into the living room and she sits down on the couch, sighing heavily.

"You okay there, missy?" Piper asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I read the book back and forth for the last three hours for anything that could help me with Mr. Cowan's death but no luck." Paige says.

"I'm sorry, Paige." Piper says.

"It's okay. I guess that means I have to try harder." Paige says.

"I can help you if you want me to." Piper offers.

"No, I think I got this, Piper."

"You've been doing this by yourself and where has that gotten you?" Piper asks, "It's okay for us to drift off and do our own thing but we have to know when to ask for help. We forgot that and that's why we're in this mess with our power situation."

"Maybe you're right." Paige says as she rubs her forehead in frustration, "I just need to do this. He gave me a lot of chances when no one would after I graduated college. I owe it to him to figure out what happened to him."

"And we will, Paige. I promise." Piper says, reassuring her sister. Paige returns the gesture with a hopeful smile.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Sitting in the gazebo staring at the sky as it slowly produces the stars; Chris closes his eyes as the cool June breeze sweeps the grass and along with it, brushes Chris' hair out of his eyes.

"Penny for your thoughts." Bianca says as she walks up to Chris and sits next to him.

"Hey…" Chris says softly without taking his eyes off the sky.

"You won't believe what happened to me today." Bianca says, "Guess who asked me to the homecoming dance?"

Chris closes his eyes as he inhales deeply, "My brother?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" Bianca asks as she laughs.

Chris doesn't give her an answer.

"I think we should tell him about us so he knows why I turned him down." Bianca suggests.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Chris says as he exhales sharply.

"Why not?"

"He's my brother. If he finds out about us, he'll be furious or heartbroken. Both cases are bad and that is something I do not want to be responsible for." Chris answers.

"Wait a minute. You want to put your…I mean, our happiness on hold to spare your brother's feelings? For someone who has never had anything denied to him before? I don't get it."

"I don't expect you to, Bianca." Chris says as he finally looks at her with the reflection of the moon glistening in his blue eyes, "I have always taken care of my siblings and make sure their lives were always at least copacetic. That's my charge. I don't want to do anything to disrupt that. This? Us? That's a factor that will change that."

"Exactly my point." Bianca says as her voice begins to break, "You take care of everyone, trying to make everyone happy except for you. When are you going to take care of yourself? It's okay to be selfish for once, Chris!"

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Chris asks gently.

Bianca shakes her head in response as her tears fall from her eyes.

"Then you'll never understand." Chris says.

Wyatt runs towards the two sitting down at the gazebo. He jumps over a fence and then sits between Chris and Bianca.

"Sorry, I'm late. We had a meeting after school today that ran longer than expected." Wyatt explains, "But I'm here now. I can get in at least an hour of training, because I know I'm long overdue."

Wyatt looks at Bianca and then looks at Chris as their silence coincides with the chirping of the crickets.

"What's going on? Are you guys okay?" Wyatt asks.

"Yeah, we're good." Bianca sniffles as she wipes a tear.

"Okay, so what's the training module for tonight?" Wyatt asks.

"Right…" Bianca says as she clears her throat and reaches for her backpack. She digs through and pulls out an aged, rolled up parchment.

"What is that?" Chris asks.

"On this paper is the first mission we have to accomplish." Bianca says.

"Mission? What mission?" Wyatt asks.

"A magical scavenger hunt." Bianca answers. She rolls out the paper on the bench as Wyatt shines his cell phone flash light on it.

"I don't see anything." Chris says as he squints his eyes, looking at the blank surface.

"It needs a spell to activate it…a spell in your Book of Shadows." Bianca says.

"Where did you get it?" Wyatt asks.

"I stole it from my mom's whitelighter…" Bianca answers.

Chris shivers as a cold feeling runs up and down his spine for a brief second. He looks at his brother and then looks at Bianca, trying his hardest not to ask the question but he knew his curiosity would not allow him to remain ignorant, "What does this map lead to?"

"An ancient artifact presumed to be lost to the world…" Bianca begins as she pauses for a second, "The Ark of the Covenant."

"The Ark of the Covenant? Like biblical Ark?" Wyatt asks as he swallows a lump in his throat. Bianca nods her response.

"I don't know about this…" Wyatt says as he runs his fingers through his long golden hair.

"We're not the only ones looking for it. Evil is looking for it too and if they find it before we do and open it?"

"Why? What's in it?" Chris asks.

"Something called the Ouroboros and whatever it is, it's enough to have the Elders be on high alert searching for it." Bianca answers, "So what do you say? You guys in? Or out?"

Wyatt takes a deep breath and looks at his brother for confirmation. He sees the uncertainty swimming in his brother's blue eyes and for the first time in a long while, his feelings matches Chris'. The sense of adventure Wyatt has been yearning for was right in front of him but he couldn't bring himself to say yes.

"In…" Chris says with certainty, "If we can prevent evil from getting their hands on it, then I'm in."

"I guess I'm in too if Chris is…" Wyatt says with a deep sigh.

Bianca's face lights up as she rolls up the scroll and shoves it in her backpack. "You guys don't have any plans for the weekend, do you?" She stands up and begins to walk towards their training warehouse as she says a little louder, "Follow me. We have some work to do."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Sitting at a round table in the center of the Halliwell restaurant, Phoebe and Coop look lovingly into each other's eyes. The atmosphere was serenely beautiful with red candles sitting on top every window, bar and table in the room, with roses scattered all over the floor. The flame of the candle complimented the black and gold colors that adorned the restaurant.

"This is so beautiful, Coop." Phoebe smiles as she looks around, "I still can't stop looking at it."

"Well, the best date for my best girl…" Coop says slyly.

"How did you get Piper to shut down the restaurant on her busiest night for you?" Phoebe asks.

"I think this was her way of apologizing for her behavior for the past few days." Coop smiles.

"I'm glad that you guys got over it. I don't like seeing my sister and my husband at odds." Phoebe says, "It felt odd."

"You don't have to worry about that anymore." Coop says, "You are worth everything to me and more and I am lucky to share the rest of my life with you. Our love is powerful and transcendent and I will never let you go or let anyone tear us apart no matter what."

"Coop…" Phoebe says as she begins to tear up.

"I'm serious. When you projected your premonitions into my heart and let me catch a glimpse of some of the special moments we have shared, that was powerful enough to snap me out of Calliope's spell and that alone is proof of how much I love you and you me."

"You make me feel fulfilled. You make me feel complete. You blessed me with three daughters I can't live without and you fill me with so much love and joy, I cannot imagine my life with anyone else or any other way. Finding love was the greatest thing that has ever happened to me and…"

Phoebe pauses as an idea suddenly enters her mind. She looks at Coop with a smile.

"Finding love…" Phoebe repeats, "You are my inspiration, and the way you make me feel is something I feel like I can help others achieve. To find the love they believe is lost to them. Finding love, that's what I'm going to name my next book."

"I love you, Phoebe." Coop says as he raises his champagne glass, "Happy anniversary, my love."

"I have had a wonderful ten years with you…" Phoebe says as she raises her glass, "And here is to an eternity more."

As they toast to their happiness, clink and sip their champagne; Phoebe kisses Coop. As they part, Phoebe takes a napkin and dabs her eyes as she sniffles.

"Damn…" Phoebe laughs nervously, "I ruined my makeup."

"You still look beautiful to me. Makes no difference."

"I swear I'm lucky." Phoebe says as she stands up, blushing over Coop's compliment, "I still have to fix my makeup or else I'll have black mascara running down my face. I'll be right back."

"I'll be right here waiting for you." Coop says with a smile as he watches Phoebe walk away. Coop sighs happily as he takes his champagne glass and takes another sip.

"That's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?" a man's voice can be heard in the distance. Coop jumps up and spins around, trying to find out where the voice was coming from.

"Who said that?" Coop asks as his eyes catch a male silhouette in the shadows, "Reveal yourself."

The man steps out of the shadows and Coop's eyes widen.

"You!" Coop gasps, "It can't be!"

"Come on, Coop. You know who I am. You can do better than just calling me 'you'. I don't think we have been formally introduced." The man says with a smile as he extends his hand for a handshake, "Cole Turner here, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"How are you here?" Coop asks.

"You're asking the wrong question there, Coop" Cole says as he begins to pace around the restaurant and Coop's eyes follow his movement, "The question you should be asking is 'why am I here?' "

"Why are you here?" Coop asks in a stern tone.

"There's trouble brewing on the horizon and the Charmed Ones have not been diligent in trying to find out what's going on." Cole answers.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Abaddon has placed all his chess pieces in their positions and is now waiting for the girls to make their move. Only thing is, the girls don't even know they're playing the game."

"Why don't you tell them that? Why did you come to me?"

"I've been trying for months but due to the terms of my 'probation', I can't really make contact with them on this plane unless they're dying and their spirit shifts onto the spiritual plane. You, however, can see all beings on different planes due to you being a Cupid; a fact that was lost on me until today when the whole muse situation came about." Cole explains.

"So what now?" Coop asks.

"Warn them. Abaddon has executed a plan that is about to take place soon. They need to be prepared." Cole says as he looks past Coop and sees Phoebe approaching, "Get them to act fast before it's too late."

Cole turns around and fades out of sight. Phoebe walks into the room with a smile and Coop turns around to face her.

"Sorry I took so long, I had to redo my makeup and I didn't wa…" Phoebe says and pauses as she sees the fear etched upon Coop's face, "What's wrong, honey?"

Coop's throat runs dry as he tries with all his might to tell Phoebe what he just found out. Still trying to wrap his mind around the amount of information he has to disclose, the only words that manage to slip out were, "We have a problem…"

FADE TO BLACK

END OF EPISODE

Special Guest Star:

Julian McMahon as Cole Turner

Guest Starring:

Ivan Sergei as Henry

Victor Webster as Coop

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Junior

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

Tiffani Thiessen as Laura

Barry Bostwick as Rosier

Kaley Cuoco a Billie

Brandon Bell as Jerry

Vanessa Bell Calloway as Mrs. Eugenia Cowan

Amanda Sankey as Sophie

Millie Davis as Natalie

Isabela Moner as Bianca

Curtis Harris as Dominic "Dom" Frye

Maile Flanagan as Ms. Soto

Siobhan Flynn as Melody the Muse

Cynthia Bailey as Calliope

Graham Wardle as Scott

Ross Kohn as Joe


	17. 10x09: Time Is On My Side (1)

_Author's Note: My time has been split between writing this season and writing the other series of Charmed I just started: Charmed-The Evil Series so because of that, the updates will be bi-weekly instead of weekly so please bear with me. I will always try my hardest not to keep you guys waiting. Shout out to wolfcry04, Jacobsnewton & ArthurDragonpen for the favs & the guest for the latest review. As always, I thank you guys for your reviews and your support. I truly appreciate it and I will try to deliver my best as much as possible. Please enjoy my latest addition_

 _-KingKenfordIV_

* * *

 **10x09: Time Is On My Side (Part 1)**

In this night and in this hour, the war being waged in the skies drowns San Francisco with a blanket of rain. A heavy downpour usually washes the Bay area streets clean, but this one came with such a ferocious wind that plant debris littered every street. Water gurgled down the asphalt into already overloaded storm drains and the flora bowed to the gale. The chiming of the cathedral rang loudly against the rumbling thunderstorm, making chaotic music to the ears of those who cared to notice.

A young nun sits in her darkly dimmed office, scribbling away as the thunder claps sound muffled inside the building. The clock on the wall ticks loudly against the soothing sound of the raindrops hitting the window. A loud crashing sound can be heard in the distance, breaking the nun's concentration. She stands up, walks out of her office and stares down the corridor. The flickering light down the empty hallway churns her stomach but she musters up her courage, adjusts her wimple and veil and takes the first step. She walks down the hallway and after a few minutes, she arrives at the nursery. She opens the door, walks into the nursery filled with sleeping or cooing babies and finds one of the babies crying in his crib. She picks up the baby and begins to rock and soothe him gently.

"Shhh, sweet baby." The nun says softly, "You're okay. You're okay."

The loud cries of the baby in her arms begin to subside until the baby eventually calms down and falls silent. The nun places the baby back into his crib and swaddles him in a blanket. She smiles down at him and turns around to look at the other babies. She walks around, checking on each of the babies, who are surprisingly sleeping or just lying awake quietly despite of the ruckus going on outside. She fixes the blanket on the last baby and turns to walk away when the baby begins to screech out loud.

"Now, now…it's alright." She says as she turns back around to see a dark figure standing over the baby crib.

"Who are you?" the nun asks as she clutches the cross hanging around her neck with all her might.

"I'm your worst nightmare." The mysterious woman replies in a low menacing tone.

"Whatever you want, you can have it. Please leave these children be." The nun pleads.

"I'm not after the children. I'm just after the one." The woman says as she looks down at the baby who smiles at her.

"No!" the nun screams as she lunges forward but the woman shoots an electric bolt at the nun and sends her flying across the room and crashes into the cupboard on the other side.

The babies in the room wake up and begin to cry as the woman leans into the crib and picks up the baby girl.

"Isn't this a sight to behold…" she says sarcastically as he walks out of the room with the baby in her arms. As she walks down the hallway, she opens the front door of the cathedral. She smiles and looks down at the baby and then blinks out of sight.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Paige?!" Piper's voice can be heard calling her youngest sister in the distance.

Paige, standing over the Book of Shadows rubs her temples in agony in the attic. She rolled her eyes at the sound of Piper's voice shrieking her name but Paige chooses to ignore her sister's voice and continues to flip through the Book.

"Whatever it is can wait." Paige says to herself.

"PAIGE MATTHEWS MITCHELL! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW!"

"Ugh, seriously?" Paige mutters under her breath. She slams the Book of Shadows shut and storms out of the attic angrily.

As she marches down the stairs, grumbling and mumbling to herself, she finally steps into the living room where Piper, Billie, Phoebe and Coop stand, waiting for her.

"What's going on?" Paige asks as she folds her arms.

"We have a problem." Phoebe answers as she stands up, "Huge."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Created by: Constance M. Burge

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The stars in the sky were nonexistent, as the sky was blanketed with puffs of gray. Those balls of cotton seen during the day shifted into streams of gray; the color of ash and soot. They shielded the moon, hiding the full glory of the full moon behind them. But the moon continued to fight so valiantly to shine its light over the city of San Francisco. The streak of moonlight that managed to break free shone upon the Victorian Manor, with the gray clouds stretching directly above it, giving it a hazy ominous feel.

The same foreboding feeling hovering over the Manor was echoed within the walls of House Halliwell. Phoebe paces back and forth while Piper and Paige sat on a couch next to each other. Billie stood behind Coop, while he stood in the middle explaining to the room what he had encountered earlier in the night. Paige continues to rub her temples as she takes a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" Piper asks her softly.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just have a headache."

"Ok…" Piper says hesitantly as she looks at Coop, "So explain that to me once more because I don't think I heard you right. You saw Cole?"

"Yeah, he came to visit me an hour ago." Coop answers.

"I'm sorry…" Billie interrupts, "Cole? As in Phoebe's demon ex, Cole?"

"That's the one!" Phoebe answers.

"So wait a minute…" Paige cuts in, "How the hell is Cole still alive?"

"He's not really alive nor dead. He's basically in limbo. ' _Caught between a cosmic void_ ' as he called it." Piper explains.

"How do you know that?" Phoebe asks.

"I ran into him a few years back. Back when the Elders took Leo from me and erased his memory and I was dying from a thorn demon poison…" Piper states with a smile.

"Speaking of Leo, where is he?" Billie asks looking around.

"He's getting ready to go to Los Angeles." Piper answers.

"Like now?" Billie asks.

"Yeah, your boyfriend insisted on it so he's on his way to the airport. Apparently, he's flying Leo there on his private jet." Piper says, impressed.

"Nice…" Billie smiles.

"Ok, can we get back at the situation at hand here?" Phoebe interrupts, with her agitation clearly growing.

"Back to you, Piper. After Wyatt healed you, you said an old friend helped you…you didn't mention it was Cole." Paige says in disbelief.

"Well, none of that matters right now!" Coop shouts, "What matters is what is about to happen. He told me to give you guys a warning."

"A warning? Concerning what?" Piper asks.

"He said that there's trouble coming. That Abaddon has set up this elaborate plan and now he's waiting on you guys to make your move. Something is about to happen and you guys need to act before it's too late." Coop says.

"Well, that isn't vague at all." Billie says sarcastically.

"That's it?" Piper asks.

"Yeah. He said you guys had a part to play and based on whatever Cole was talking about, it sounded like it was going to be massive." Coop answers.

"Why did Cole come to you instead of one of us?" Paige asks.

"He said he had been trying to do so for the past few weeks. The only way he could break through was to communicate through me, since I have the power to travel and see beings from different planes." Coop explains.

"Well, now what?" Paige asks.

"Now we summon the one person who can help us decipher this mess." Phoebe says as she stops pacing and faces her sisters.

"Who? Laylah?" Piper questions.

"Yeah, she must have some idea or a little knowledge of what's going on. She can't completely be in the dark after being his prisoner for ten years." Phoebe says.

"We don't know where she is." Billie comments.

"We don't need to know where she is. We just need to hope that she's not cloaked from our magic." Paige says.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Laylah, sitting on top of a mountain with her eyes closed and wearing a wide smile, faced a valley filled with clear blue streams and rivers and green hills with the sun hiding behind one of the hills in the distance. The chirping of the birds soothes her mind as she inhales the thin air on top of the mountain and exhales happily.

Her eyes suddenly open as she feels a pull within her body and she looks around quickly. She relaxes and closes her eyes once more. A faint echo of words can be heard as she opens her eyes again.

"Oh no." She whispers as she is surrounded by golden swirl of light and disappears from sight.

She reappears in the center of the attic, surrounded by white lit candles with the Charmed Ones, Billie and Coop staring at her.

"Welcome back, Laylah." Phoebe says as she steps forward. Laylah looks around and then looks back at Phoebe, unsure of what has happened or what is about to happen.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"So are you guys going to fill me in on what the hell is going on?" Laylah asks as she looks around the room, feeling the tension rising.

"I don't know, Laylah. You tell us." Piper shoots back.

"I really don't know what you're talking about." Laylah says, still pleading ignorance.

"Let's start with your brother…" Piper says.

"Abaddon? Did he attack or something?"

"No…" Paige says breathily, "But apparently he has a plan in motion ready to launch and it includes us."

Laylah looks closely at Paige as she steps out of the circle of candles, "Are you okay, Paige? You look different."

"I'm fine. You guys need to stop asking me that." Paige says defensively.

"What do you know about your brother's plans?" Phoebe asks.

"Nothing. If I knew something, I would've told you already." Laylah answers.

"You were held captive for over ten years and you never heard a thing?" Billie ponders, "I find that really hard to believe."

"I truly do not know what is going on." Laylah says, "Maybe I can help you guys piece together whatever is going on."

"What do you think?" Piper asks Phoebe.

"I think she's telling the truth." Phoebe says gently.

"How do you know?" Billie asks.

"I just have a feeling in my gut." Phoebe says as she walks back to the podium.

"Ok, so what do we know so far?" Laylah asks.

"Cole said something about Abaddon setting something up and waiting on you guys to make your move." Coop says.

"Do you have any clue of what Abaddon might be planning?" Piper asks Laylah, "Anything at all?"

"No."

"Some help you are…" Piper says as she rolls her eyes.

"Let's backtrack here." Phoebe says as she begins to pace, "Before your brothers became imprisoned, what was Abaddon's plan then?"

"He tried a magical coup, remember?" Piper reminisces.

"He formed a legion of demons and went against my brothers, trying to take over." Laylah adds.

"So maybe that's what he's trying to do now." Phoebe deduces, "He's trying to take over now especially since there are no Taxiarchs here to stop him."

"So how do we fit in this scenario?" Paige asks.

"You guys are the only ones powerful enough to stop him." Billie says.

"So he wants us to come after him? That doesn't make any sense." Paige says as she wipes the beads of sweat on her forehead with her palm and sits down.

"Well, he's already got the demons in his pocket so there's nothing we can do about that." Piper says.

"The Dark War?" Phoebe mutters under her breath as she stops pacing and stares at the group.

"Care to share with the group, Pheebs?" Piper asks.

"What about the Dark War? Remember what Calliope said about us and the prophecy?" Phoebe begins to ramble as she turns to Laylah, "What do you know about the Dark War?"

"Uh, the most powerful paragons of good face off with the greatest evil this world has ever known…"

"So maybe this is what he was talking about? The Dark War?" Billie asks.

"How did you guys know about that?" Laylah asks.

"Doesn't matter. All that matters at this moment is figuring out what we need to do before it's too late." Piper says.

"How?" Paige asks.

"A premonition." Phoebe says quietly as she sits down and turns to Laylah.

"Come again?" Piper says, asking for clarification.

"If I can force a premonition from the past, then maybe I can see enough to get us somewhere." Phoebe says.

"I don't know, Phoebe. I mean, when was the last time you had a premonition?" Piper asks.

"It's been years but at this point, we don't really have a choice, Piper." Phoebe says as she looks around the room, "Does anyone else have a better idea?"

Phoebe scans the room as silence fills the air. Paige begins to groan painfully as she keels over.

"Paige?" Piper calls to her but receives no answer.

Paige screams loudly and opens her eyes as her body begins to transform. Her previously buzz cut hair grew a couple of inches longer, her attire switches into all black leather pants and black sleeveless shirt. Her hazel eyes turn black as she stands up with a smirk. Phoebe and Laylah stand up and move away from her.

"Paige…" Billie walks to her but Coop holds her back.

"I don't think that's Paige anymore."

Paige begins to walk closer to Piper and Phoebe as they back up slowly.

"Paige, what's going on?" Piper asks.

"Hush!" Paige says as she holds out her hand and sends Piper flying across the room and crashes into a table, breaking on impact.

"Paige, this isn't you. Whatever is wrong with you, we can try to fix it." Phoebe pleads but her pleas fall on deaf ears. Paige waves her hand at both Phoebe and Billie as she tosses them aside with her power. Coop runs to Phoebe, trying to help her up.

"Oh, no no no…" Paige says as she wags her finger. She forms an energy ball and throws it towards the couple. The energy ball charges towards them with full force until it freezes in mid-air. Phoebe looks in Piper's direction and sees her on the ground with her hands both held out. Laylah grabs Piper and helps her to her feet.

"What the hell, Paige?!" Billie says as she stands up and brushes off her clothes.

"She's not our Paige right now." Phoebe says as she walks closer to a frozen Paige.

"Why is this happening?" Billie asks.

"We don't know but we better so something with her before she unfreezes." Piper says, "Remember, my targets didn't freeze for long when I first got my powers?"

"Well then, what are we going to do with her?" Billie asks.

"I'm so sorry, Paige." Phoebe says as she grabs a candlestick nearby and hits Paige over the head with it. Paige unfreezes and falls to the ground unconsciously.

"Really?" Piper asks Phoebe in disbelief.

"I didn't have a choice." Phoebe defends herself.

"Now what?" Piper asks as she looks down at an unconscious Paige with Phoebe, Coop and Billie standing over her as well.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"She's burning up." Phoebe says as she places her hand on Paige's forehead.

"Why did she transform into this so quickly?" Piper asks standing over Paige with her arms folded.

"I think the question is, why and what turned her into this?" Billie asks.

"She's evil." Laylah chimes in as she kneels beside Paige's body and examines her quietly.

"Yeah, we know." Billie says, "The question is why?"

Laylah hovers her hands over Paige's body as a golden glow emanates and through her fingers. Laylah closes her eyes as she moves her hands up and down the body as everyone in the room looks on in silence. The tension in the room grows with every second that passes. After a brief moment which felt like eternity, Laylah turns to the sisters and sighs.

"Her soul has been corrupted by evil." Laylah says, breaking it to them gently.

"Come again?" Phoebe asks with her eyebrows rising. Her whole body tingled for a brief moment and then a hot flash washed over her body in anger.

"What do you mean her soul is corrupted? How?! When?" Piper begins to ramble as she tucks her hair behind her ears.

"Maybe when Calliope attacked?" Coop guesses, "I mean she did the same thing to me."

"That's impossible." Piper answers, "Calliope only revealed herself to us once and she didn't even use her powers on us. You did. If that were the case, we should all be turning evil."

"No, she wasn't turned by Calliope." Laylah says, "Whatever evil corrupted her soul has been in effect for a long time. Possibly years."

"Years?" Phoebe asks as her voice cracks, "That's crazy. I really don't see how that's possible for her to change in a split second."

"How could this have happened?" Piper asks, running her hair through her fingers, "This is not the time for all of this to happen. How do we fix this?"

"There's only two logical explanations for this." Laylah says, "Either she has truly been evil this entire time and it just lay dormant until now or…"

"Or what?" Phoebe asks desperately.

"Or someone went back in time and altered the past, which may be the reason for this, changing her future."

"Obviously that's what happened then. It's the one that makes sense the most." Billie says, "It's not like she will suddenly turn evil and start attacking people and you guys didn't know or have a clue about it."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Phoebe says as she shoots Piper a knowing side glance, "Something may pop up once in a blue moon and switch everything up. You never know…"

"You never know…" Piper repeats with a smirk.

"So the theory is someone went back in time to change Paige's life?" Billie asks.

"Yeah." Phoebe answers, "Hey, do you think this is what Cole meant by Abaddon's plan? Turn one of us evil so the Charmed circle will be broken?"

"It's a good plan but I think it's a piece of a much larger plan." Laylah says, staring at Paige's unconscious body.

"Ok, so back in time…how are we going to do this?" Piper asks as all eyes fall on Coop.

"I don't know if I would be able to help you guys this time." Coop says.

"Why not? You've taken us back in time before." Piper says, confused as all hell.

"You need to know exactly when the evil set in, when it was inflicted. You can't risk it on random trips like my ring took you the last time." Coop answers.

"So what do we do? Time travel usually requires a Power of Three spell and we're currently down a sister." Phoebe says.

"I may be able to help with that." Laylah says as she places her hand on Paige's chest and a blue glow transfers from her hand and seeps into Paige's chest. Releasing a loud gasp, Paige's eyes open and she sits up, gasping and coughing uncontrollably.

Piper and Phoebe rush to their sister and pat her on her back, trying to soothe her and regulate her breathing.

"It's okay, honey." Phoebe says rubbing her sister's back, "It's okay."

"What's going on?" Paige asks in between coughs as she looks around, panicking.

"It's a long story." Piper says gently.

"Make it shorter." Paige says with a hoarse throat.

"Well…" Phoebe says as she takes a long pause and exhales sharply, "You turned evil and attacked us."

"I did _what_?!" Paige says in disbelief.

"It's okay." Piper says in a calm tone, "We're trying to figure out and get to the bottom of this."

"So how am I me again?" Paige asks.

"Yeah, how is she back to her normal self again?" Phoebe asks Laylah.

"I used my powers, or whatever power I have at the moment to suspend the hold evil has on her soul but it's temporary." Laylah says.

"How temporary?" Piper asks.

"24 hours? More or less." Laylah answers, "I'm not at my full strength so this is all I can do for now."

"That's good enough." Phoebe says as she stands up and walks to the Book of Shadows. She begins to flip through the pages rapidly.

"What are you looking for?" Billie asks.

"The spell we cast to go back in time…" Phoebe begins to say as she continues to flip through the book, "We can use it to go back again. Aha! Found it!"

Piper and Paige rush to Phoebe's side and look into the book.

"Uh, this one was written specifically for the bond mom made with Nicholas, remember?" Piper says as she reads the spell to herself.

"We can substitute some words and make it work." Phoebe says.

"Or I can send you back in time if you want me to." Laylah offers.

"Are you sure you can do that?" Piper asks.

"I can, only thing is that the time limit on Paige will come down to 12 hours instead of 24. Meaning you have 12 hours to save Paige _and_ to find the root of all of this." Laylah explains.

"What do you think?" Phoebe turns to her sisters, asking for their counsel.

"Do we have a choice?" Paige answers, "We just need to keep our eyes on the prize and not stray from what we're going back to do."

"Piper? What do you think?" Phoebe asks.

"The clock's a ticking so let's get this over with." Piper answers.

"Will we still have our powers? Last time we went, we didn't have them." Phoebe says with concern.

"No, you will not. Two witches cannot share the same power without affecting the other's life force so you will not have your powers." Laylah answers, "Remember, you're going back in time so do not do anything that will change the future."

"We know. This isn't our first rodeo." Piper says as she takes deep, nervous breath.

"Ok." Phoebe says as she looks at Laylah and with a nod, signals her approval, "Let's do this."

With a wave of her hand, golden swirl lights materialize in the air and surround the Charmed Ones. The light engulfs them and they disappear from the attic.

"Where did they go?" Billie asks, still staring at the same spot the sisters were standing before.

Laylah doesn't give her an answer. She looks down at her wrist and sees that her watch reads 10:30 p.m.

"Twelve hours." She whispers, but loud enough for Coop to hear.

"Twelve hours." Coop repeats, with his voice tinged with worry.

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The golden swirl of lights reappear in the middle of the attic pf the Halliwell Manor, materializing the Charmed Ones and disappearing from sight. The girls look around, trying to gauge their location.

"It worked….right?" Paige says as she takes cautious steps, looking around.

"I think so because obviously Billie, Coop and Laylah aren't here. The real question is _when_ in the past are we?" Phoebe asks as she sees the attic door ajar.

"Let's go find out." Piper says with a smile.

The three sisters walk out of the attic with Piper leading the charge and head down the stairs when they hear a faint voice in the distance.

"Shhh…" Piper whispers as they peak their head around the corner. The first door they see down the hall was wide open with a man standing outside looking in. A woman's voice can be heard on the inside speaking lowly.

"Can you see who that is?" Phoebe whispers to Piper but Piper shushes her again.

The man begins to back up as another woman walks out of the room and closes the door shut. The woman, slightly older walks away from the door with the man.

"Well?" the man asks.

"She's refusing to talk to me. I don't know what to do anymore." The woman says in a faint voice.

"So what do we do now?" the man asks.

"I don't know. For the first time in my life, I don't know what to do. I can't imagine what I would do if I were in her shoes." The woman says, almost sounding defeated.

"Do you think we should bring the girls to her? Maybe that will help boost her spirits?" the man asks.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sam." The woman says, "I don't want my girls seeing their mother like this."

"Sam?" Phoebe whispers, trying to gain clarification "Is that who I think it is?"

"I think that's my father…" Paige says as she tries to squint and get a better look.

"And Grams!" Piper deduces with a small gasp.

"Do you think we did the right thing, Penny?" Sam asks in a worrisome tone.

"Giving her up was the safest thing we could've done for her. You know this." Grams says, "Let's leave her alone for now and try again later."

"Okay." Sam says as he turns to walk away and Grams follows him. The Charmed Ones lean back against the wall, hiding from plain sight as they begin to whisper amongst each other.

"I think I know what time we landed in." Phoebe says, "I'm guessing this is around the time mom and Sam gave you up at the orphanage, Paige."

Paige gasps and leans back as she slowly sits on the stairs. As Piper and Phoebe walk closer to their younger sister to comfort her, Phoebe steps on a creaky step and she pauses in place.

"You don't think they heard that, do you?" Phoebe says slightly hoping she was right.

"Oh, I think they heard us…" Piper says, looking over Phoebe's shoulders.

"Who are you?!" Grams says defensively as she raises her hands, ready to strike.

Caught unawares and dumbfounded, the Charmed Ones stand before their grandmother and Sam Wilder with a mixed feeling of terror, relief and anxiety.

TO BE CONTINUED


	18. 10x09: Time Is On My Side (2)

_Author's Note:_

 _Anthony, as always, it's a pleasure to see your reviews on my stories. Jacobsnewton, thank you for your feedback. I appreciate it as always. Drtslim, thanks for the fav and follow; iAmyMay, thank you for the follow. Welcome to my vision of Charmed Season 10 and I hope you guys are enjoying this so far and hope you guys enjoy the rest that the story that is to come._

 _-KingKenfordIV_

* * *

 **10x09: Time Is On My Side (Part 2)**

"I asked you a question! Who the hell are you?!" Grams demands as her voice grows stern. Piper, Phoebe and Paige stare at each other and then at back at Grams and Sam.

Paige sighs and begins to speak, "We're yo…"

"Messengers." Phoebe completes the sentence. Paige and Piper look at her, surprised.

"Messengers?" Sam asks.

"Yeah, messengers." Phoebe says, "The future is in chaos right now and we were sent back in time to try to change it."

"Sent back? By whom?" Grams asks.

"Sent back by the Charmed Ones…" Phoebe says gently with a smile, "Your granddaughters…"

Grams, with her hand still up drops it slowly, "My girls?"

"Mhm…" Phoebe nods.

"I don't believe you." Grams says as she raises her hands again, ready to send them flying.

"Penny, wait!" Sam says coming to their defense, "What if they're telling the truth?"

"For all we know, they're shapeshifters or warlocks sent back to kill us or worse…."

"Maybe, but we have to hear them out in case they're actually telling the truth." Sam says, "Give them a chance."

Grams stares at Sam angrily and then her anger subsides as she sighs heavily.

"Thank you." Phoebe whispers to Sam.

"Tonight is your lucky night. If it were any other day, I wouldn't have to think twice about sending you out that door."

"We're grateful for that." Paige says with a smile.

"We should take this somewhere else." Grams says as she walks past the girls and heads up the stairs to the attic, "I don't need Patty coming out here and adding unnecessary stress to her misery."

Sam looks at Paige suspiciously as he squints his eyes. He walks past her slowly, analyzing her carefully in a trance-like state.

"Samuel!" Grams' voice can be heard shouting, snapping Sam out of the trance causing him to run up the stairs.

Paige snickers and the rest of her sisters smile as well, as they walk up the stairs.

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Falling back a couple of feet away from Sam and Grams, Piper begins to whisper to Phoebe.

"What the hell was that about?" Piper asks.

"What are you talking about?"

"The whole messengers thing?" Paige chimes in, "Wouldn't it have been easier if we um, I don't know, told them the truth?"

"Piper, you of all people remember what happened the last time we came here and she threw us out of the house without saying a word." Phoebe says.

"Yes, and we ended up in jail and mom had to bail us out. We still told them who we were though." Piper reminds her.

"There's also the other problem." Phoebe says, "If we told them who we were, how were we going to explain Paige being here and Prue not being here?"

"Oh…" Piper and Paige say in unison.

"Right." Phoebe says, "That in itself will bring more questions and problems than we need right now. And we really do not have time to deal with that right now. Paige's safety is paramount."

"Guess you're right." Paige says as she walks into the attic and her sisters follow her.

Standing in the center of the attic with Grams standing at the podium with the Book, Sam takes a seat on the couch and looks at Grams.

"Well, I guess we should get to business, huh?" Sam says.

"Not so fast." Grams says as she flips through the Book without looking up, "I am still not convinced about the story you girls presented me."

"Um uh…" Phoebe stutters.

"We can do this one of two ways…" Grams says, "I can trust on your word and you guys answer the questions I have for you or…"

"Or?" Piper asks.

"Or I just cast the truth spell and make that do its job." Grams says, "I just wrote the spell and I have been dying to see how well I can make that work for me. What do you say?"

"Ask away…" Piper says confidently.

"My girls would not have sent you back in time without proof. They would know that I would it would take more than the word of three sycophants…."

"Penny!" Sam exclaims in shock.

"What? I'm calling them as I see them unless they prove themselves to be anything but." Penny says as she rolls her eyes and focuses on the sisters, "Am I right?"

"Sycophants? No." Piper says, "But you have every right to be skeptical."

"Does she?" Phoebe asks Piper in a whisper.

"Yes!" Piper grunts through her gritted teeth. She looks at Grams with a smile.

"We weren't exactly welcoming with open arms when Chris came back from the future…" Paige whispers to her sisters.

"You are a skilled witch, Penny…you're legendary in wiccan circles." Piper begins to flatter, "Your herb potions, sigil spells, summoning spells and more are practiced daily in magical circles and are archived in the magical libraries around the world, including the one at Magic School."

"Magic School?" Grams laughs, "It doesn't exist."

"It does." Piper says, "And you visit it a few times in the future."

"Hmmm." Grams says, "But that's not enough to convince me of anything."

"How about the fact that you were born and raised in Boston. You moved over here in the late 60s and you led one of the largest magical sit-ins the world has ever known." Phoebe says.

"Like you said, my stories are legendary and you probably read that in a book somewhere." Grams says, unimpressed as she continues to flip through the book.

"You lost your husband that day." Piper chimes in, "Allen Halliwell. The Charmed Ones' grandfather. He was killed by your best friend at the time, Robin who was working with another warlock."

Grams stops flipping through the book and looks up at the girls. Sam's look of shock matches Gram's look of pain, feelings of love, pain and anger shuffle through her eyes as the light of the chandelier in the attic glimmers in her eyes.

"Of all your four husbands, he was the love of your life and no one could match nor measure up to him, did they?" Phoebe says, joining in.

"How did…" Grams begins to say.

"That part was not known to anyone but you; which you told to your granddaughters and they told us." Phoebe says.

Grams remains speechless and looks down. She clears her throat loudly, "Well then..." she says in a whispered voice loud enough to be heard but soft enough to be understood, "How can we be of assistance?"

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Grams' robe flows in the wind effortlessly behind her as she paces back and forth while she absorbs the information the Charmed Ones are relaying to her. Her bangles and beads knock together with every hand movement she makes. Sam watches on with great curiosity.

"So why did my girls send you back here instead of coming themselves?" Grams asks.

"There's a battle taking place in the future and they stayed behind to fight it." Phoebe lies, "They are the most powerful witches in the world and if they left the battle, we would have perished."

"Hmmm." Grams says as she continues, "How are my girls though? How are they doing with this whole destiny thing?"

"They're doing well." Piper answers, "Each of them have their own kids, and they are still fighting and saving the world on a daily basis, up until now where they sent us back to help save the day."

"How's my little girl?" Sam asks tearfully, his eyes glimmering with hope.

"She's uh…" Paige says as she looks down at her fingers, unsure about how to answer the question.

"She's fine." Phoebe answers, "She grew up to be headstrong and independent, very beautiful with a beautiful and kind heart."

Sam smiles with relief as he gasps with joy.

"See? I told you that giving her away was for her own good." Grams says, "You men never listen when we have something to say and end up being surprised when you find out we were right all along."

Piper, Phoebe and Paige exchange nervous glances and then look at Grams.

"Now is not the time, Penny." Sam says sharply.

"So what does bring you three here?" Grams asks.

"Yeah, we're here about your baby girl." Piper discloses.

"What about her?" Sam asks.

"She's uh…" Phoebe begins to say as she stutters, "She got turned evil."

"She got what?!" Patty's voice can be heard screaming as she walks into the attic.

"Mom…" Paige and Phoebe whisper.

"Patty…" Grams says as she steps away from the book for a second as Sam walks up to her. He wraps his arms around her and walks her to the couch. Patty's eyes fall on the girls as she sits down. Her eyes were puffy from crying, her face devoid of any make up. Her brown hair was straight and shorter than what they were used to.

"Can you say that again?" Patty says as her voice cracked, "What happened to my baby girl?"

Piper looks back at Phoebe and sighs heavily.

"We shouldn't." Piper whispers.

"What choice do we have?" Phoebe asks as she checks her watch, "We have about 9 and a half hours left and we don't have a lot of time to beat around the bush."

"Fine." Piper says as she turns back to face her grandmother, mother and her whitelighter.

"We have reason to believe…" Piper begins nervously, "That a demon came back in time and did something that turned her evil."

"We've got a little over 9 hours to save her before it's too late." Phoebe says softly.

With tears strolling down her face, Patty stands up to face and faces Grams.

"What do you have to say about your plan now, huh Mother?" Patty says as her voice shakes.

"Now Patty, listen to me. We can fix…"

"Can we?!" Sam joins in as his anger pierces through his voice, "I told you we shouldn't have listened to your mother, Patty."

"Now, wait a minute…" Piper begins to say but Patty's voice overshadows hers.

"You said it would be safe for the girls if we have her up for adoption, that way they won't be denied their birthright; their powers…" Patty says angrily.

"A-and I meant it…" Grams says defensively.

"She was turned evil after we gave her away, Mother! How is that being safe?!" Patty asks, "You don't care about anyone as much as you do about your legacy. You were angry that I delivered the Charmed Ones, not you. It has always been your gripe after Piper was born and when you found out I was pregnant again, you didn't want the glory stripped away from you and your daughter so you persuaded us to give her away. I should have never listened to you!"

Grams opens her mouth to defend herself but no words flowed. Grams was frozen, speechless and couldn't find the words to explain nor soothe her daughter. Maybe, allowing Patty to lash out at her would provide more comfort than any words or action ever could. Grams couldn't bear to look at Patty in her eyes without crying herself so she looked down and sighed heavily.

"Patty…" Sam begins to say as he places his hand on Patty's shoulder. Patty turns around and collapses into Sam's arms as she sobs uncontrollably, "We will get her back and fix this. I promise."

"Okay so what is the plan?" Phoebe asks.

"What plan?" Grams asks out of confusion.

"The plan to find her and fix whatever went wrong." Piper says, "We're kind of on a time limit so every minute we spend doing nothing is a minute wasted so…"

"Where did you guys take her?" Grams asks.

"We dropped her off at a nun at the cathedral." Sam says.

"Which one?" Piper asks.

"Grace Cathedral…on California Street." Paige says quietly in a seemingly trance.

Patty stops sobbing as all eyes fall on Paige.

"How'd she know that?" Patty asks.

"Uh…" Paige stutters.

"Um, history books, you know?" Phoebe covers up for her sister.

"But I thought no one knew about this." Sam says.

"They didn't but we figured it out soon afterwards." Piper lies.

"Okay." Grams says as she looks at Piper suspiciously, "We should go back there and talked to the nun you left the child with. What's her name?"

"Sister Agnes." Patty answers.

"So I will go with Sam and Patty to the cathedral to talk to…"

"No Mother, someone has to stay here and watch the girls." Patty says, "I won't leave them."

"Fine, I'll go with Sam…" Grams begins to say but Piper interrupts.

"Can we go too?" Piper asks in a childlike manner, "Maybe we can be of help."

"Sure, whatever suits you." Grams says as she waves her hand dismissively at Piper's comment.

"I don't feel comfortable leaving you here by yourself, Patty." Sam says.

"She's not going to be alone." Paige says quietly, "I'll stay behind."

If looks could kill, Paige would be lying in a pool of her own blood from the look Piper and Phoebe shoot her, mixed with concern and anger.

"Can we huddle for a second?" Phoebe says with a fake smile as she grabs Paige by the arm and yanks her towards at the corner of the attic.

"What are you doing?" Piper asks, "Are you out of your mind?"

"I'll be fine. I have Mom and the Power of Three to protect me." Paige says confidently.

"Power of Three? They're little girls." Phoebe says.

"Wyatt and Chris were little boys and look at how powerful they are." Paige says, "I'm trusting in you guys to save me, both versions of you."

"What about the ticking time bomb inside of you?" Piper asks.

"Well, Laylah's spell is holding it but barely. I'm fine though. I promise." Paige says.

"What do you think?" Phoebe asks Piper who sighs heavily.

"If she says she's fine, I believe her." Piper says.

"Okay." Phoebe whispers as they turn around and walk back towards the rest of the cavalry.

"Patty and what did you say your name was again, dear?" Grams asks Paige.

"Uh, Gabrielle…Gabby." Paige lies.

"Patty and Gabby, you stay here." Grams says as she walks closer to Sam. Piper and Phoebe walk next to her, "We'll be back as soon as possible."

Paige nods and Patty flashes a weak smile, staring at Sam. With a nod, Piper, Phoebe, Grams and Sam hold hands and orb out of the attic.

Patty and Paige stare at each other.

"What do we do now?" Paige asks.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

In a dimly lit apartment, a baby girl can be heard crying as a man tries to rock her to sleep.

"Shhh…" he says, trying to calm her down as he screams, "Where's the bloody potion?"

"Just a few more minutes!" a woman replies, "I have to make sure it's perfect and then cool it."

"Can't you use your magic to cool it down? I'm really starting to get annoyed listening to the whining and the crying." The man says.

"Oh, stop it. Give her here!" the woman says as she walks over to the man and he hands the baby to her. The woman's face is revealed to be the warlock from the cathedral, rocking and soothing the young Halliwell.

"Did you complete the task at hand?" the man asks.

"What task?" the warlock asks, only paying half a mind to what the man is saying.

"Malina?" the man says in a questionable tone.

"What do you want me to say? The orders were to capture the child and hold her until we were told otherwise." Malina says as the baby begins to calm down, "What more are we supposed to do?"

"Did anyone see you take the child?" the man asks.

"Yes, a nun." Malina answers.

"Is the nun still breathing?"

Malina doesn't provide an answer.

"Seriously?!" the man says out of frustration. The baby begins to cry once more.

"Seriously?!" Malina shouts, "I almost had her fall asleep."

"You didn't kill the nun?"

"No, Xorr, I didn't. We were not instructed to kill anyone." Malina says trying to justify herself.

"Some things go without saying, Malina!" Xorr says as he stands up.

"What are you doing?" Malina asks.

"Back to finish what you started." Xorr says as he blinks out of the apartment.

Malina takes a deep breath and walks to the kitchen with the baby in her arms. She grabs the potion and morphs it into a baby bottle. She presses it to the baby's lips and after a few tries of resistance, the baby begins to suck on the nipple. The bottle glows a purple color and the color engulfs the baby as she chugs down the potion.

"That's a good girl." Malina says softly.

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The familiar mixture of blue and white lights pierce the pitch blackness in the office in the cathedral.

"I can't see anything. Are you sure this is the right place?" Piper's voice can be heard asking.

"This is the office Patty and I orbed into earlier today. This is Sister Agnes' office." Sam answers.

The light automatically comes on and everyone shields their eyes briefly with Phoebe standing by the light switch.

"A little warning next time?" Piper says as she rubs her eyes.

"Shhh, do you hear that?" Phoebe says as she walks closer to the door.

"Hear what?" Grams asks.

"You don't hear that?" Phoebe asks as she opens the door and looks outside. She sees nuns running around, chaos ensuing as they evacuate the cathedral with the children. Phoebe waves at the rest of the group as she steps out into the hallway.

Standing in the center of the hallway, Piper, Grams and Sam join her as they watch the panicked nuns rushing in and out of the cathedral.

"What do you think happened here?" Piper asks.

"Only one way to find out." Grams says as she marches towards the chaos with her family behind her.

"Uh, excuse me…" Grams says, trying to get their attention but fails. The halls are too crowded and too rambunctious to attract anyone's attention.

"Can you freeze them?" Phoebe whispers to Piper.

"No, our powers don't work in the past, remember?" Piper whispers back.

"How do we get one of them to talk to us? The chaos is too much!" Sam says.

"Oh for God's sake. You men are always useless in dire situations. " Grams says as she rolls her eyes and takes center stage, "Watch and learn, girls!"

" _Snap my fingers to help appease  
And bring the virtuous some peace.  
Yield their mind, set them at ease,  
Let all the panic and chaos cease!_".

With a snap of her fingers, an invisible wave sweeps the cathedral and time slows down for a quick second before resuming its normal pace. The nuns and the children continue to pack and walk out of the church but without the chaotic behavior.

"Hmm." Piper says, clearly fascinated.

"Now we can get some real answers." Grams says as she walks further into the crowd and the girls and Sam follow.

"Hi, yeah…" Phoebe tries to wave at one of the nuns who stops to face them, "What's going on here?"

"There was an attack on one of our nuns, evil roams these halls and we are no longer safe." The nun says fearfully.

"Oh my God." Phoebe says emphatically.

"Do you know where we can find Sister Agnes?" Piper asks.

"She's still in the nursery, traumatized…" the nun answers.

"And where can we find this nursery?" Piper asks once more.

"Just a bit further down and to the right. It's the first door on your right." The nun says.

"Thank you." Phoebe whispers kindly as the nun walks away.

"Do you think she was talking about the demon?" Piper asks.

"There's only one way to find out." Grams says as she tries to maneuver her way through the crowd.

"She never slows down, does she?" Phoebe asks, trying to keep up with Grams.

"That's probably how she got that heart problem in the first place." Piper replies as they follow Grams.

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Patty thumbs through the Book of Shadows carefully as Paige watches her mother in admiration. Paige's naturally hazel eyes were dilated and blood shot. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and the occasional shiver sent chills down her spine. She could feel the power of Laylah coursing through her veins, working its magic to keep the evil within her from overpowering her.

" _Happy thoughts, Paige…_ " Paige says in a low, shaking voice to herself in order to distract her mind from whatever war was being waged within her body, " _Just happy thoughts._ "

"I don't even know what I'm looking for!" Patty says as she continues to flip through the Book angrily, "This is useless."

"Maybe I can give it a try? Maybe I can find something you probably missed." Paige offers.

"Are you okay?" Patty asks, seeing the dark circles forming under Paige's eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Paige lies, "I'm just a little cold…"

"I can close the windows if you…"

"No, it's fine." Paige says as she stands up and walks to the podium and points to the Book, "Do you mind?"

Patty stares at Paige and then looks down at the Book, a little bit hesitant.

"Um, sure." Patty says as she steps to the side.

Paige stands over the Book and slowly reaches for the page. Her nerves begin to overwhelm her as various thoughts run through her head.

" _Is the Book going to see past the façade and detect the evil within me? Will Laylah's powers be strong enough to conceal the evil from the Book? What will Mom say if the Book shocks me or flies away from me?_ " Paige wonders as her thoughts run rampant in her mind.

Closing her eyes, Paige places her hand on the page of the open Book and breathes a sigh of relief when she sees the Book didn't reject her. Her nerves settle as she begins to look through the Book.

Patty stares at Paige nervously as she begins to pick her cuticles.

"Um, I have a favor to ask you, Gabby…" Patty asks.

"Sure, what is it?"

"I know you're from the future and you aren't supposed to say anything to me and I get that…" Patty says as she begins to ramble, "But I know you can spare me a few details that won't be a problem or create a drastic change, right?"

"Um, Patty I…" Paige stutters but she sees the desperation in her mother's eyes, which are pretty hard to ignore.

"Please." She pleads.

"Sure. What do you want to know?" Paige asks.

"How are my daughters? How are my girls in the future?" Patty asks in a breathy whisper, "Are they happy?"

Paige takes a deep breath and with a tearful smile, she nods happily.

Patty laughs as tears streak down her face, her laughter mixed with relief and joy.

"My fear is that they will be robbed of the opportunity to live normal lives because of this destiny thing. I'm glad that my fear doesn't come true." Patty says with glee.

"They get to be happy, live a normal life and balance their wiccan duties. You don't have to worry." Paige reassures her mother.

"One more question." Patty says, trying her hardest not to overstep her boundaries, "Do all four of my daughters reunite? Do they get to meet each other?"

Paige hesitates with her answer and looks down.

"Mom?" a young girl's voice can be heard in the distance.

Patty turns around and sees two young children standing by the attic door.

"Prue! Piper!" Patty says as she walks to them, "What are you guys doing out of bed?"

"I had a nightmare." Little Prue says, "A scary man came to get me and I woke up."

"And she ended up waking me up." Little Piper adds.

Paige walks closer in as her eyes examine Prue up and down, filled with awe. She had never met Prue, not even once, except if she counted the one time she saw Prue transformed into a white Siberian Husky.

A spell she casted a decade ago allowed her to have shared memories with Prue but that spell didn't provide her with the physical interactions, the touch and the sight of her sister. She never thought she would ever get the chance to meet the sister who casted a very large shadow for her to live in, the sister who's place in the power of three she inherited. And alas, there she was with her jet black hair and clear blue eyes.

"Oh, Gabby, these are my babies Prue and Piper." Patty introduces.

Paige nods as she smiles sweetly.

"You're pretty." Prue says with a smile.

"Aww." Paige swoons as she walks closer, "You're pretty too!"

"Come on, girls." Patty says as she holds the hand of both girls in each hand as she leads them out of the attic, "Let's go back to bed."

Patty looks back at Paige, "I'll be right back."

"Do you mind if I come with?" Paige asks politely.

"Sure." Patty says with a smile as Paige walks out with them.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Grams walks into the nursery with Piper, Phoebe and Sam right behind her. The nursery was empty with a few debris littered in the corner where the cupboard used to be. A young woman sat at the desk, starring at the empty cribs, sobbing quietly.

"Hello?" Phoebe says, trying to get her attention, "Sister Agnes?"

Sister Agnes doesn't even acknowledge her presence as she clenches a blanket tightly to her chest.

"Agnes?" Sam says softly as he walks closer to her. Agnes looks at Sam and stands up.

"Sam." She whispers quietly as she moves towards him, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Sam walks to her and embraces her as she breaks down and sobs uncontrollably.

"Agnes, what happened here?" Phoebe asks as Agnes sniffles and breaks away from Sam's arms.

"She came in here and took her." Agnes says, "The evil broke in here and took the baby and there was nothing I could do."

"Is that the reason why everyone is going crazy outside?" Grams asks.

"I had to evacuate the entire church. Monsignor approved it and I didn't want to wait another minute. This is the only way I know I can protect those who require our protection." Agnes says between sobs.

"Do you know who took the child?" Grams asks, "Or what she looked like?"

Immediately, Piper is seen flying across the room as she hits the wall and falls to the ground, knocked unconscious.

Phoebe, Grams, Sam and Agnes look behind them to find Xorr standing behind them with a smile on his face. "Hmm and I was almost sad I had to clean after Malina's mess. This is going to be fun."

"Not on my watch." Phoebe says as she walks to Xorr and assumes her fighting stance. Their eyes lock for a brief moment as Phoebe throws a punch; which Xorr dodges. Xorr swings and Phoebe ducks, performs a sweeping leg kick and knocks Xorr off his feet. Phoebe stands up and without taking her eyes off him, she shouts, "Sam, check to see if she's alright!"

Sam walks to Piper and begins to heal her. Xorr stands up and walks towards Phoebe with a smile.

"You're a good fighter, witch." He says tauntingly, "But not that good."

"I beg to differ." Phoebe says as Xorr throws punches but Phoebe blocks them. She spins and kicks Xorr in the chest, sending him flying through the double doors behind him. Lying on his back, he smiles and blinks, disappearing from sight.

"Uh, he's not a demon. He's a warlock!" Phoebe announces.

"A what?!" Agnes says in shock.

"Don't worry about it, dear." Grams says.

"Watch out!" Agnes screams as she see Xorr blink back into the nursery with an athame in hand. He throws it at Phoebe, who doesn't have time to dodge but flinches. The athame freezes in mid-air, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. Phoebe opens her eyes and sees the point of the athame facing her, mere inches away from her nose. She looks over at Piper to see her sitting with both hands stretched out, indicating she was the one who froze the knife.

"Oh! Oh, oh oh!" Phoebe says as she side steps and grabs the handle. She moves closer to the frozen warlock and plunges the athame into his heart. Xorr unfreezes and backs away as he explodes from sight.

"Whew! That was close, huh?" Phoebe says, chuckling nervously, while she helps Piper stand up.

"You both have got some explaining to do." Grams says as she folds her arms with Sam standing next to her, "Who are you?"

Piper and Phoebe look at each other and then look back at Grams who gives them death stare.

TO BE CONTINUED


	19. 10x09: Time Is On My Side (3)

**10x09: Time Is On My Side (Part 3)**

"We're friends of your granddaughters." Phoebe smiles anxiously, still trying to convince Grams of the same lie they've spun since they arrived in the past.

"Uh uh!" Grams says as she raises her hands to stop her from lying even further, "How the hell do you have one of my granddaughter's powers? I've seen my granddaughter use her magic and you do everything just like she does, right down to the hand gestures. So I'll ask you again and be careful to answer wisely, who are you?"

Piper takes a deep breath and then looks at her sister, "Might as well tell them the truth."

"We weren't sent here by your granddaughters. We _are_ your granddaughters." Phoebe says with relief.

"Granddaughters?" Grams says as her eyes widen, "How do I know…"

"Grams, it's us and I know deep down you knew that it was us." Phoebe says.

"So if that's Piper…" Grams says, "Which one are you?"

"Phoebe."

"Oh my goodness!" Grams says tearfully as she places her heavy ringed fingers on her eyes to keep from crying, "I can't believe this."

"Hey, Grams." Piper says as she waves at her grandmother.

"Speaking of powers, how do we have our powers?" Phoebe asks, "I thought Laylah said only one set of us can have our powers at the same time…in the same time?"

"I bound the girls' powers the day after Phoebe was born." Grams says as she walks closer to the girls, "To protect you girls from…"

"Nicholas…" Piper finishes Grams' sentence.

Grams steps closer and wraps her arms around her girls and squeezes them tightly. She backs away and sniffles.

"You two have made me so happy." Grams says, trying desperately to hide her excitement but her smile quickly disappears, "The girl in the Manor with Patty. That's not Prue is it?"

"No." Piper says softly.

"That's my baby girl?" Sam says as his eyes light up with hope.

Phoebe nods with a smile.

"Oh!" Sam says with a tearful gasp, "She's so beautiful! I knew I felt something when I first saw her. Wait until I tell Patty about…"

"No, Sam.. we cannot tell mom about her." Phoebe says.

"Why not?" Sam asks in confusion.

"Wait a minute." Grams says as she stares at Piper and Phoebe, "How are all four of you guys still fighting demons with your powers if the prophecy only mentions three?"

Piper and Phoebe look down and then look up with a somber look in their eyes.

"Oh my word…" Grams gasps as she covers her mouth and stumbles backwards, with her bracelet and beads banging and jingling in the silence.

"How?" Grams asks.

"Demon." Piper breaks it to her.

"My dear Prudence." Grams says with a maudlin tone.

"Sorry, Grams." Phoebe says in a mere whisper.

"Well, we've got some work to do. We cannot afford to be distracted right now, especially since we have a time limit and all." Grams says as she clears her throat and wipes her tears, "So I'm assuming there's an another warlock since this one was a man."

"I think we should go home and work from there." Phoebe suggests.

"Good idea." Grams cosigns, "More heads to put together with the Book at our disposal."

"I think this belongs to you." Agnes says as she hands the blanket to Sam. Sam looks at the blanket with an embroidered 'P' at the edge and tears fill his eyes once more.

"Thank you!" Sam says.

"I'm so sorry." Agnes says once more.

"Uh, Grams?" Piper calls to Grams as she walks closer, "Do you think the nun has seen and heard too much?"

"Don't nuns take a vow of silence or something?" Grams asks.

"They take a vow of Chasity." Piper says, "Silence is monks."

"Right." Grams smiles awkwardly.

"Sam, do you think you can use the memory dust to…you know?" Phoebe says as she whistles and gestures mind erasing.

"That's forbidden. We're only supposed to use it in extremely dire consequences." Sam says.

"What's more forbidden than a secret love child and a nun who has seen all forms of magic here?" Piper asks.

"Good point." Sam says.

"We'll meet in the office." Piper says as she walks out.

"Don't forget to dust the entire church." Phoebe says as she taps him on the shoulder and walks away.

"Use a strong dose." Grams says as she walks out shortly afterward.

Sam stares at Agnes who stares at him nervously.

"Don't be afraid." Sam says gently, "This will only take a second."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Mommy, can you read me a bed time story?!" Piper pleads as she hops into her bed.

"Maybe tomorrow night." Patty says, "It's too late today."

"Or maybe she can read me my story." Piper says pointing to Paige.

"Piper, what did I tell you about when I tell you 'no'?" Patty asks in a serious tone.

"Sorry, mommy." Piper says as she slides under her covers. Patty sits on her bed and pulls the covers off.

"How about we go to the Twin Peaks tomorrow if you go to sleep now?" Patty asks to which Piper smiles and giggles with joy.

"Can I get a butterfly kiss?" Piper asks.

"Sure." Patty says as she leans in closer and the two blink rapidly as they let their eyelashes join together.

"Good night, mommy." Piper says as she yawns.

"Good night, Piper." Patty whispers.

Paige smiles as she watches them from the doorway.

Patty stands up and walks across the room and sits on Prue's bed.

"What if I have a nightmare again?" Prue asks.

"You'll be fine. Just sing the song and it will make it better." Patty says with a smile.

"Do you want the usual?" Patty asks.

"Usual? What's the usual?" Paige asks.

"Sing her a lullaby." Patty says, "That's the only way she'll ever go to sleep."

"That's cute." Paige says as she looks on.

"You ready?" Patty asks to which Prue nods innocently.

"Ok." Patty whispers.

" _Hey Jude, don't make it bad.  
Take a sad song and make it better  
Remember to let her into your heart  
Then you start to make it better._"

Patty begins to sing as she gently strokes Prue's hair.

" _Hey Prue, don't be afraid.  
You were made to go out and get them  
The minute you let them under your skin  
Then you begin to make it better…_"

Paige watches in the shadows as Prue's eyelids grow heavier and heavier, as Patty continues to hum "Hey Jude". Paige's smile subsides when a hit of realization enters her mind as she stares at her mother singing to her little older sister.

"Oh my God!" Paige whispers in surprise, "Well, I'll be damned."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The four orb into the attic and immediately, Grams walks towards the Book.

"Okay, seeing as how they're warlocks, a simple spell should be able to do them away." Grams says as she flips through the Book telekinetically, "The only thing we need to do is find out where they are."

"Maybe we can scry for the warlock using the athame or scry for the baby using the blanket." Piper says.

"That's a good idea." Grams says as she walks to Phoebe, "The dagger if you'd please?"

Phoebe takes out the athame and hands it to her.

Patty and Paige walk into the attic and Paige quickly takes a seat. Sam stares at Paige in awe and tears form in his eyes.

"Took you a while to get back." Patty says, "Did you guys find anything?"

"We got some information but not very much." Phoebe says, "But we're working on it."

Piper walks to Paige and sits next to her, "How are you holding up?"

"Not very good…" Paige says weakly, "I need to tell you guys something."

"What is it?" Piper asks.

"Maybe that can wait until we save me first." Paige says, sounding out of breath.

"I think I have an idea." Phoebe says as she begins to brainstorm, "Maybe we don't need to find out where the baby is."

"Huh?" Piper asks.

"Why try to find out where she is when we can bring her to us?" Phoebe suggests.

"That requires a blood to blood spell." Patty says, "You think our blood will be strong enough for the call to work, Mother?"

Grams looks at the girls and then at Patty, "Uh, we can only hope. We have the cypress and yarrow root up here. All that's missing is the rosemary. Patty, can you be a dear and fetch that for me?"

"I can grab it." Paige volunteers.

"Uh, no. Patty can do it." Grams insists.

"I don't understand why I have to do it but okay." Patty says suspiciously as she walks out, "I'll be back."

A few moments after Patty walks out, Paige stares down her sisters as Sam runs to Paige and pulls her into a hug.

"Oh…kay?" Paige says in shock, "Can anyone tell me what's going on?"

"They know…" Piper says.

"Know what?" Paige asks.

"That you're my daughter." Sam says happily.

"So much for keeping that secret." Paige groans.

"Grams kind of figured it out." Phoebe says.

"So what now? Are we going to tell mom?" Paige asks.

"No, she's still in the dark and it will stay that way. She doesn't need to know that she had to lose a daughter in order to gain another." Gram says as she mixes the ingredients to the spell, "We need a drop of blood from you before Patty comes back seeing as how it's you we're trying to summon back here."

Grams begins to grind the ingredients together as Paige takes the knife and pricks her finger. She squeezes her blood into the bowl and Sam hovers his hand over her finger, healing the cut quickly.

"Are we sure the spell is going to work? I mean, Paige is standing right here so…"

"The spell is magic calling magic. Adult Paige's powers are inactive because baby Paige still has hers so with you two's powers, mine and Patty's combined, it should be enough to bring the baby to us." Grams explains.

"Wait, you two still have your powers?" Paige asks, sounding a little bit disappointed.

"Yup!" Phoebe says grabs the athame from Paige.

"How?"

"Long story." Piper says dismissively.

Patty walks back in to the attic with a jar of herbs, "Here's the rosemary, Mother. Anything else you need, Mother?"

"That will be all, dear." Grams says as she grabs the jar and opens it up, "Thank you."

She grabs a pinch of rosemary and drops it into the bowl and grinds it.

"Now we need your blood during the chant and then we'll be able to get this show on the road." Grams says.

Patty hesitantly takes the athame and cuts her finger. She squeezes a few drops of blood into the bowl and Sam heals her quickly.

"Now what?" Patty asks.

"We hold hands and chant." Grams says as she holds Piper's hand. Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Grams and Patty grab each other's open hand and form a witch's circle as they begin to chant.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Malina paces back and forth anxiously, waiting for Xorr to return. Her eyes occasionally fall onto a sleeping baby Paige in her bassinet.

"Come on, Xorr. Where the hell are you?!"

Golden white swirls materialize and surround baby Paige as she disappears from sight.

"No!" Malina screams as she closes her eyes in an attempt to track the baby. She opens them rapidly and squints angrily, "Witches!"

She grabs her athame and blinks out of the apartment.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

The Charmed Ones, Grams, Patty and Sam stand in the attic waiting to see if their spell worked when the familiar golden swirls appear and baby Paige appears before them onto the couch in the center of the attic.

"Ha! It worked!" Patty says as she leaps with joy. She walks towards the baby when Grams holds her back.

"What the hell, Mother?!"

"Wait for it." Grams says softly.

Almost immediately, Malina blinks into the attic and looks around.

"Looking for us?" Phoebe asks.

"Where's Xorr?" Malina asks furiously.

"Oh, was that your friend?" Piper asks, "Vanquished, I'm afraid."

"You will pay for that, witches!" Malina swears as she lunges forward but Grams with her fore and middle finger suspends Malina in mid-air.

"Not so fast." Grams says as she walks closer.

" _Creature of darkness, evil spawn  
To the depths of hell with you,  
Warlock, be gone!_"

Grams chants in one breath as she waves her hand and flames emerge from the ground and consume the warlock. Screaming and thrusting around in pain, she explodes out of sight, leaving an echo of her screams.

"Wow." Piper, Phoebe and Paige say in unison, clearly impressed.

Grams smiles and shrugs cockily, "What can I say?"

Patty and Sam run to baby Paige and pick her up. They kiss and hug her as they swoon over their baby girl. Paige watches happily as Phoebe walks closer to her and hugs her from behind, resting her head on her left shoulder and Piper wraps her hands around Paige and rests her head on Paige's right shoulder.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Scenes of a 1970s San Francisco can be seen as old Cadillac vehicles drive by the Halliwell Manor. Paige, Phoebe and Piper sit on the couch watching Sam and Patty with baby Paige. Grams walks up to Patty and hands her the embroidered blanket with the P stitched at the end.

"She's so beautiful and so pure." Patty says as she kisses baby Paige on the forehead.

"Yes, she is." Sam says looking at adult Paige.

"Is she okay now?" Phoebe asks.

"Yeah, she should be." Sam says, "I scanned her and the little bit of evil planted in her was eradicated before it could truly take hold, thanks to Penny's potion."

"What can I say?" Grams says with a smile, "I work miracles with my potions."

Piper, Phoebe and Paige snicker and laugh at her comment.

"Now what?" Piper asks.

"Since you saved her with five hours left on the clock, I'm sure we can find a spell to send you back." Grams says.

"Good because I'm tired." Paige says as she yawns.

"And Patty?" Sam says, "It's time for us to go."

"I can't do it." Patty says as her voice begins to crack, "We already gave her up once and looked what happened in a matter of hours? We're not going to give up our baby girl again."

"Patty…" Paige says as she stands up and walks up to her. She squats in front of her mother, staring at her at eye level.

"Do you trust me?" Paige asks.

Patty nods with tears in her eyes.

"This is something that will resonate with your daughter for the rest of her life, I can assure you that but this also becomes the best thing you could have ever done for her." Paige begins, "She will end up with two people who will love her unconditionally, give her the best they can every give her. She will grow up to have a good job, reunite with her sisters and save the world on a weekly basis with them. She finds her a good man, a mortal man…"

"Oh my God. Have I not taught you girls anything?!" Grams groans loudly.

"Mother!" Patty scolds her mom and looks at Paige.

"She will get married and have three adorable grandchildren for you. A set of twin identical girls and a boy. And she will live out her days happy because her mother was strong enough to let her go." Paige says as she begins to tear up, " _You_ were strong enough in this moment to do what's best for her by letting her go and it was not in vain. I promise I will let her know how hard this was for you to do this, just like she promised for me to tell you how happy she was that you gave her the best chance at life."

Patty sobs quietly as Sam kisses her on her forehead. Baby Paige opens her eyes and stares onto her mother and father's faces.

"I will miss you sweet baby." Patty says painfully, "I will always love you."

Baby Paige coos and smiles.

"She smiled at me!" Patty laughs through her sobs, "And she has your eyes, Sam!"

Patty looks down at baby Paige and then looks up at adult Paige and her eyes widen.

"My baby…" Patty says as she looks at baby Paige and then at adult Paige, "It's you!"

Paige nods with a smile as tears fall from her eyes.

"It's me and I'll be fine, mom." Paige says, "I promise you."

Patty looks at Piper and Phoebe, who stand up and walk closer to their mother.

"My girls!" Patty says as she wraps one arm around them all as they all embrace briefly, "Where's Prue?"

"She stayed back to make sure we made the trip." Piper says, "She's the one who cast the spell to bring us here."

"I love you girls so much." Patty says happily as she steps back and Sam stands next to her. She looks at her daughters and then looks at Sam, "I'm ready."

Sam takes a deep breath and nods. He holds her as he orbs them out of sight.

"Well…." Grams says as she clears her throat, "I think I'm going to have Sam dust me when he comes back. Too much future information is dangerous information."

"Are you sure?" Paige asks.

"Yeah, I think it's for the best." Grams says, "Are you girls ready to head back?"

The Charmed Ones nod happily and stand up. Grams walks up to them and hugs them tightly and then backs away. She takes a matchbox and strikes it, lighting it up and dropping it into a boiling cauldron.

"Be safe, my darlings." Grams says as smiles tearfully as she begins to chant and the Charmed Ones join her.

" _A time for everything, and to everything in its place  
Return what's been moved through time and space._"

Golden swirls materialize and sweep the Charmed Ones out of the attic. Releasing a satisfying sigh, Grams whispers, "Blessed be…"

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Watching the nuns move their things back into the cathedral, Sister Agnes sighs happily as the nuns march the children into their rooms. She turns around and walks into her office and closes the door.

The room lights up and blue and white lights appear before her, with Patty and Sam standing before her.

"Oh dear God!" Sister Agnes gasps as she falls to her knees. She combines her hands together and begins to pray.

"There's no need to do that, Sister. We come to you hoping you can do us a favor." Sam says.

Sister Agnes still in awe and shock, stands up and mutters her prayers as she walks closer.

"Whatever you need from me, I will be able to provide for you." Agnes says eagerly.

"This is our daughter. We wish we had any other choice but we do not. She's in great danger and this is the only way we know how to protect her and we trust that you will be able to protect her." Sam says as he hands her a bag filled with clothes and baby items.

Patty sobs as she continues to stroke her daughter's cheek so tenderly.

"We need you to find her a good home, a safe home where she will be loved, protected and well cared for." Sam pleads as his voice begins to break as he looks at Patty, "Patty, it's time to let go."

"Nooo…" Patty weeps as Sam gestures her to hand the baby to the nun.

"It's okay, my love." Sam says, "Everything will be okay."

Patty hesitates but eventually walks over to Sister Agnes and hands Paige to her. She wails as she walks back to Sam and cries in his arms.

"And if she ever comes back to you asking questions in the future, please let her know about this day. How hard it was for us to give her away and we did it to save her." Sam says as he begins to cry.

"I will." Sister Agnes whispers.

"Can you grant me one favor?" Patty musters the strength to say through her sobbing, "Can you make sure her name begins with a 'P'? And save the blanket for her for when comes searching for who she is. I want her to have a piece of home waiting for her if she comes looking."

"I promise I'll try my best to honor this request." Sister Agnes says gently.

Patty walks up the baby and sniffs her head. She then kisses her on the forehead and backs away slowly. Sobbing uncontrollably in Sam's arms, Sam gives Agnes a final look and they both exchange a look of agreement. Satisfied, Sam closes his eyes as he orbs out of the office with Patty. Agnes gasps and looks down at the beautiful baby girl, cradled in her arms.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

White orbs fill the dimly lit room and Patty and Sam appear out of thin air. With Grams in the attic watching, Sam walks a distraught Patty to the couch and seat her.

"Where are the girls?" Patty asks between sobs.

"I had to send them back, their time was running out." Grams answers.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye to them." Patty weeps as she breaks down. Sam strokes her hair in an effort to console her.

Grams looks on helplessly as she signals Sam to come closer to her. Sam slides away from Patty and walks closer to Grams.

"What is it, Penny?"

"I need you to dust me." Grams says, "And I think you'll need to dust Patty too."

"Why?" Sam asks, "This future knowledge gives us comfort knowing everything is going to be alright with our daughter."

"That may be true for you," Grams says, "But I can't go through my days staring at my granddaughter in the face knowing her fate. I can't live with that guilt."

Sam looks at Patty and then looks at Grams and sighs heavily.

"I think you're right." Sam admits, "I think you should cast the memory spell on me before I dust you."

"I understand why Patty and I may need to be dusted but why you?"

Sam stares at Patty with tears in his eyes, "I love this woman. She blessed me with a beautiful daughter and I'm forever grateful for them both but I cannot bring myself to live with this truth; knowing that my daughter is alive and well in the future brings me great joy and peace of mind but I cannot live keeping the secret of Prue's fate from her."

"Sam..." Grams whispers as her voice cracks.

"it's okay, Penny." Sam says tearfully, "I'd rather live not knowing the fate of my baby girl than live knowing Prue is dead and not being able to tell Patty because I can't be the one to break her heart that way."

Sam reaches into his pocket and takes out a pouch of memory dust. He drags himself to the couch and sits in front of Patty. He wipes Patty's tears off her face with his thumbs and smiles.

"I love you so much." Sam says to Patty and then whispers, "I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Patty asks.

With a handful of memory dust, Sam blows the powder into Patty's face, who ends up blinking and coughing. Patty sits on the couch with a blank expression on her face, not knowing what is going on. Sam stands and walks towards Grams.

"Are you sure about this, Sam?" Grams asks.

"Ignorance is bliss, Penny." Sam answers.

Grams strikes a match and drops it into a bubbling cauldron. She flips the pages of the Book to an "Erase Memory Spell".

Sam smiles as his face glows while Grams recites the spell. He closes his eyes as the magic does its job.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Piper, Phoebe and Paige magically appear into their attic, looking around to reassure themselves if they made it back into their own time.

"You think we made it back to our time?" Phoebe asks.

"I hope so." Piper says.

"That was a trip worth remembering." Phoebe says with a smile as she stares at Paige.

"Yeah, I mean I always knew they must have struggled giving me up, and I saw Sam's guilt when we first met but to see mom's was heartbreaking." Paige says.

"Yeah, you're right." Piper says, "At least now you know."

"My question is why did Abaddon send two warlock nobodies back in time to do all of this?" Phoebe asks.

"Who knows?" Paige asks.

"Who cares?" Piper adds, "Whatever his plan was, we foiled it so there's that."

"I don't know why but I have a strange feeling that there's more to this than we realize." Phoebe says.

"Like what?" Paige asks.

Instantaneously, the Manor begins to rock and shake, knocking the Charmed Ones on their feet. Books fall of the shelf, the chandelier in the attic falls to the ground.

"What the hell is going on?!" Phoebe yells.

"An earthquake?" Paige guesses.

"Your guess is as good as mine!" Piper yells back.

After a few minutes, the house stops shaking. Paige walks to the attic window and gasps.

"That was weird." Piper says.

"Uh, guys?" Paige says, "You might want to come take a look at this."

Phoebe and Piper walk over to her and look down to see a huge crack, split the street in half, the houses across the street looks caved in and the cars parked on the street are sitting in sinkholes.

"What the hell is going on?!" Phoebe asks once more.

A noise can be heard downstairs as muffled arguing and Piper, Phoebe and Paige stare at each other.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Downstairs in the living room, the chairs are flipped over, the lamps and tables are knocked over and the mirrors are cracked. The grandfather's clock was on the ground, shattered with glass everywhere. Billie, Laura, Wyatt, Chris, Tricia and Mellie's voices overlap each other as Piper, Phoebe and Paige enter the room and Piper lets out a loud whistle.

"Ahhh!" everyone winces and the room falls silent.

"I hate it when she does that." Chris complains.

"Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on?" Phoebe asks.

"And why the hell are you guys up right now? It's damn near 6 am." Piper wonders.

"You won't believe what your children just did." Billie says as she folds her arms.

"Children?" Tricia scoffs, "More like Wyatt."

"What do you mean?" Paige asks.

"All of this, the earthquake, the meteors, the sinkholes, everything." Laura says.

"Wyatt?! What did you do?!" Piper asks.

"Mom?" Wyatt begins to say, "I'm so sorry."

The look of terror etched on Wyatt's face as tears form in his eyes leads Piper to believe that something massive just happened. What's even worse was the first words that came out of her son's mouth, words to the normal mother meant nothing significant but to Piper Halliwell, could mean the worst.

FADE TO BLACK

END OF EPISODE

Guest Starring:

Finola Hughes as Patty Halliwell

Jennifer Rhodes as Grams

Scott Jaeck as Sam Wilder

Victor Webster as Coop

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

Tiffani Thiessen as Laura

Sarah Jane Morris as Laylah

Kaley Cuoco a Billie

Nicholas D'Agosto as Xorr

Jodelle Ferland as Malina

Bella Rose Dunn as Young Piper

Blake Bjerken as Young Prue

Emma Blackery as Sister Agnes


	20. 10x10: All Wyatt on the Witches Front(1)

**10x10: All Wyatt on the Witches' Front (Part 1)**

 _Chris stands on the bleachers at school surrounded by a pigheaded football jock, Brian and his lackeys. Brian jerks his head forward and head butts Chris in the face. A crack, a loud wince and a collective sound of gasping can be heard as Chris stumbles back and falls on the bleachers. He removes his hand from his face and reveals the bloody mess pouring out of his nose._

" _Are you okay?" a young girl asks, sitting on the opposite side of Chris._

" _Besides the bloody nose, I'm just peachy." Chris answers in a nasal tone, holding his nose._

 _Chris lowers his head and stares into the girl's big brown eyes. He opens his mouth to say something but his words are stuck in his throat. The girl smiles softly._

" _Get well soon, Chris." The girl says as she begins to walk away._

" _Wait, what's your name?" Chris asks, with his voice muffled by an ice filled towel placed on his nose._

 _The girl stops and looks back at Chris with a smile. She turns to walk away and then shouts her name out loud for him to hear._

" _Bianca!"_

 _ **PREVIOUSLY ON CHARMED**_

 _Sitting in the VIP section of his mother's restaurant "Halliwell's", Chris is approached by his brother with a couple of young girls, prompting his to ask "Who's this?"_

" _Cousins." Wyatt answers, "Tricia, Paisley and Paris."_

" _Nice." Chris answers as he points down the line introducing himself and his company, "Well, I'm Chris and this is my sister Melinda. Cousins Penny, Gabby and Junior."_

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _The Charmed children sit down in the middle of the attic and form a circle around the Ouija board. They extend their arms and one by one, they join hands together until the circle is completed. As soon as the last pair of hands were joined, the house begins to shake. The chandelier hanging from the ceiling begins to flicker on and off as the rumbling grows louder and louder._

" _Uh, what's going on?" Paisley asks in a panicked voice._

" _It's okay. Just hold on." Gabby assures her cousin._

 _The children look at the ceiling and then at each other. The chandelier continues to shake and all of a sudden, a bright white light is released as the house continues to shake. The light shines brightly over the children below, with their hands still joined. A moment later, the light from the chandelier disappears and a wave of blue energy begins to form right above the spirit board._

" _What is that?" Penny asks as her eyes widen._

" _I actually don't know." Chris says, also caught in surprise._

 _The blue energy flickers and disappears in a poof. The cousins stare at each other, breathing a sigh of relief. In an instant, the blue and pink wave sweeps the room, breaking the circular link the cousins have formed, knocking them backwards. The wave spreads across the entire city of San Francisco, causing a brief earthquake._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

" _Hey, Wyatt and Chris…" Bianca greets as she approaches them in front of their school in the quad._

" _What do you want, Bianca?" Chris asks._

" _We need to talk." Bianca says._

" _Talk about what?" Wyatt asks._

" _Something that will benefit all three of us." Bianca responds. "I found an abandoned warehouse close to my house and I turned it into a practice place for demon fighting and basic witchcraft training. I think you guys should join me." Bianca says._

" _No, we're good. Thank you." Wyatt declines._

" _Come on, Wyatt. I can do bad all by myself but I think we can get a better handle on our powers with advanced training. I know you can conjure up illusions and stuff like that so it can make the training experience more real. You can benefit from it too. I doubt that you get any time of training at home at all." Bianca says "A place where we can exercise our powers with no supervision or interruptions. Try to recruit your brother too. He's really smart; he can help us with the spells, potions and knowledge on demons and stuff like that." Bianca suggests._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _(A flash of light takes us to Chris and Wyatt on the field at school)_

" _Come on, here me out." Wyatt pleads as he walks up the bleachers and stands next to Chris._

" _She has found a spot where we can meet up after school and train." Wyatt says._

" _Train for what?" Chris asks._

" _Training so we can better utilize our powers for when demons come crashing through the front door." Wyatt whispers._

" _Did you forget that we just had this argument with mom when we rescued Laylah?" Chris states, "Going behind mom's back doesn't do anything but cause problems."_

" _And asking her to help us develop our magic and fighting skills is doing nothing for us. We are not going to go demon hunting, Chris. We're just getting prepared in case we do."_

" _I just don't feel comfortable doing this without mom's approval, Wyatt. The answer is no"_

 _(A flash of light changes the scene to Wyatt and Chris in the Halliwell Manor)_

" _Yeah, and I was hesitant at first but I feel like it's going to be good in the long run." Wyatt says, "You should seriously join us. We need you, Chris."_

 _Chris takes a deep breath and stares out the window, watching the sun rising._

" _You know I helped mom figure out how to make the potion that vanquished the sorcerer and they still didn't let me help them afterwards." Chris says._

" _That's because no matter how old you get, you'll always be a kid in their eyes. How much longer are you going to let them dismiss you before it's too late? What happened last night should be proof that you need this training too. We can't rely on them forever, Chris. The time will come where they'll need to rely on us."_

" _Ok. I give up." Chris sighs, "I'll join your freaking X-Men team but any funny business and I'm out."_

" _I promise you, you'll enjoy it and learn a whole lot more than you think you know now." Wyatt smiles, "You won't regret it."_

" _Ok." Chris whispers._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

" _That is one fine ass woman but I don't like her." Dom says in the cafeteria as they watch Bianca walk away._

" _Why?" Wyatt asks._

" _I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about her whenever she comes close."_

" _Don't worry. Keeping her at an arm's length of a distance, Dom." Wyatt says as he takes a sip of his juice._

" _If you say so, buddy." Dom says with doubt._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**_

 _(A flash and a change of scene take us to outside the training warehouse where Chris and Bianca are walking to their new romantic spot, The Gazebo with the beautiful view of the Golden Bridge in the distance.)_

" _What is this place?" Bianca asks._

" _This is my sister's spot." Chris answers, "My dad used to bring her here all of the time."_

" _This is nice." Bianca says as she walks into the gazebo and takes a seat on the bench, "The view of the sunset is nice from here."_

 _As the sun inches closer to the horizon, the sky turns darker and the stars begin to irradiate the sky._

 _Chris swallows a lump and watches as Bianca closes her eyes and puckers her lips. Chris' heart beats so fast, he feared his heart was going to leap out of his chest and run away._

 _With a million thoughts running through his mind, they all disappeared as soon as his lips met with Bianca's. A warm feeling rose from his chest and washed over him as he closed his eyes and sunk into the moment. He had never felt anything like this before and now, in this moment, nothing else mattered._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _(A flash and change of scene to the school library with Chris and Bianca)_

" _Well, homecoming is right around the corner and I was wondering if you would be my date to the dance?" Bianca asks in a whisper._

" _I'll think about it."_

" _Come on!" Bianca shouts and the librarian shoots them a furious glance, accompanied with a loud "Shhh!"_

" _Keep it down! You do realize you're in a library, right?" Chris whispers._

" _Exactly." Bianca says, "I'll keep yelling until you give me an answer."_

" _Fine! I'll go with you but I'm not putting on a tie or none of that proper crap." Chris compromises._

" _I wouldn't want you to even if you did." Bianca smiles as she kisses Chris on the cheek and shimmers out of the library. Chris looks around nervously for a quick second and then looks at his computer screen with a smile._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _(A flash and a change of scene take us to Dom and Wyatt in the cafeteria)_

" _Anyway, I think today is going to be the day…" Wyatt says as he leans closer to Dom._

" _The day for what?" Dom asks without taking his eyes off his tray._

" _For me to find myself a date for homecoming." Wyatt says with a big smile._

" _Good for you, bro!" Dom says as he takes a huge bite of his sandwich, "Who are you going to ask?"_

" _Bianca." Wyatt whispers._

 _Dom pauses and looks around for a quick second and begins laughing._

" _Why?!" Dom yells, "There's something about that girl I don't like. I just can't put my finger on it."_

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _(A change of scene takes us to Dom and Chris discussing Bianca and Wyatt)_

" _Your brother kept going on and on about how he's infatuated with her and how he wants to ask her to the homecoming dance and maybe be his girlfriend" Dom says as he pauses, "Maybe not be his girlfriend but you know that's the next step after the dance."_

" _He really said all of that?" Chris asks as a bleak look begins to creep all over his face._

" _Yeah." Dom says, "It's like he cannot think straight all of a sudden as if she's got him under some kind of spell…"_

 _(A flash of light and change of scene takes us to Bianca and Wyatt in an empty classroom of the school)_

" _I just wanted to ask you a simple question." Wyatt says nervously._

" _So what's on your mind?"_

" _Um, you know Homecoming is next weekend and I was wondering if you didn't already have a date…"_

" _Oh, no…" Bianca says sympathetically, "I already have a date to the dance."_

" _Of course you do." Wyatt says with disappointment in his voice, "It's my fault, I waited too long."_

" _I'm so sorry, Wyatt."_

" _No, it's okay. I don't know what I was thinking you wouldn't already have a date." Wyatt chuckles, "Well, whoever the guy is, he's very lucky."_

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _(A change of scene takes us to Bianca and Chris at their spot as the stars sparkle overhead in the night's sky.)_

" _Guess who asked me to the homecoming dance?" Bianca asks Chris_

 _Chris closes his eyes as he inhales deeply, "My brother?"_

" _Yeah, how did you know?" Bianca asks as she laughs._

 _Chris doesn't give her an answer._

" _I think we should tell him about us so he knows why I turned him down." Bianca suggests._

" _I don't think that would be a good idea." Chris says as he exhales sharply._

" _Why not?"_

" _He's my brother. If he finds out about us, he'll be furious or heartbroken. Both cases are bad and that is something I do not want to be responsible for." Chris answers._

" _Wait a minute. You want to put your…I mean, our happiness on hold to spare your brother's feelings? For someone who has never had anything denied to him before? I don't get it."_

" _I don't expect you to, Bianca." Chris says as he finally looks at her with the reflection of the moon glistening in his blue eyes, "I have always taken care of my siblings and make sure their lives were always at least copacetic. That's my charge. I don't want to do anything to disrupt that. This? Us? That's a factor that will change that."_

" _Exactly my point." Bianca says as her voice begins to break, "You take care of everyone, trying to make everyone happy except for you. When are you going to take care of yourself? It's okay to be selfish for once, Chris!"_

" _Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Chris asks gently._

 _Bianca shakes her head in response as her tears fall from her eyes._

" _Then you'll never understand." Chris says._

 _Wyatt runs towards the two sitting down at the gazebo. He jumps over a fence and then sits between Chris and Bianca._

" _Sorry, I'm late. We had a meeting after school today that ran longer than expected." Wyatt explains, "But I'm here now. I can get in at least an hour of training, because I know I'm long overdue."_

 _Wyatt looks at Bianca and then looks at Chris as their silence coincides with the chirping of the crickets._

" _What's going on? Are you guys okay?" Wyatt asks._

" _Yeah, we're good." Bianca sniffles as she wipes a tear._

" _Okay, so what's the training module for tonight?" Wyatt asks._

" _Right…" Bianca says as she clears her throat and reaches for her backpack. She digs through and pulls out an aged, rolled up parchment._

" _What is that?" Chris asks._

" _On this paper is the first mission we have to accomplish." Bianca says._

" _Mission? What mission?" Wyatt asks._

" _A magical scavenger hunt." Bianca answers. She rolls out the paper on the bench as Wyatt shines his cell phone flash light on it._

" _I don't see anything." Chris says as he squints his eyes, looking at the blank surface._

" _It needs a spell to activate it…a spell in your Book of Shadows." Bianca says._

" _Where did you get it?" Wyatt asks._

" _I stole it from my mom's whitelighter…" Bianca answers._

 _Chris shivers as a cold feeling runs up and down his spine for a brief second. He looks at his brother and then looks at Bianca, trying his hardest not to ask the question but he knew his curiosity would not allow him to remain ignorant, "What does this map lead to?"_

" _An ancient artifact presumed to be lost to the world…" Bianca begins as she pauses for a second, "The Ark of the Covenant."_

" _The Ark of the Covenant? Like biblical Ark?" Wyatt asks as he swallows a lump in his throat. Bianca nods her response._

" _I don't know about this…" Wyatt says as he runs his fingers through his long golden hair._

" _We're not the only ones looking for it. Evil is looking for it too and if they find it before we do and open it?"_

" _Why? What's in it?" Chris asks._

" _Something called the Ouroboros and whatever it is; it's enough to have the Elders be on high alert searching for it." Bianca answers, "So what do you say? You guys in? Or out?"_

 _Wyatt takes a deep breath and looks at his brother for confirmation. He sees the uncertainty swimming in his brother's blue eyes and for the first time in a long while, his feelings matches Chris'. The sense of adventure Wyatt has been yearning for was right in front of him but he couldn't bring himself to say yes._

" _In…" Chris says with certainty, "If we can prevent evil from getting their hands on it, then I'm in."_

" _I guess I'm in too if Chris is…" Wyatt says with a deep sigh._

 _Bianca's face lights up as she rolls up the scroll and shoves it in her backpack. "You guys don't have any plans for the weekend, do you?" She stands up and begins to walk towards their training warehouse as she says a little louder, "Follow me. We have some work to do."_

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _(A change of scene later leads us into Abaddon's palace on Angel Island)_

 _Abaddon stands up and walks to the grimoire and flips through the pages telekinetically. He arrives at a page and looks at Sebastian._

" _I believe you know what this is." Abaddon says as he points to the image in the Grimoire._

" _No, I do not, my lord." Sebastian says._

" _This is the weapon I need to help me take over the world and destroy my enemies in one fell swoop." Abaddon says, "According to recently acquired information, thanks to you, this is what your rival, the demon king was looking for."_

" _Kulak?" Sebastian asks._

" _Yes. He found the chest. This, Sebastian, is the Ouroboros. Within this chest is all the information I need and with the information you have loaded into my mind regarding the Charmed Ones, I am one step closer to obtaining it. I just need to find out who 'Arcturus' is."_

" _Arcturus, sir?" Sebastian asks._

" _The bright star who can locate and unearth this great weapon." Abaddon smiles, "Now, come with me to lay the foundation of this plan. We have a trial run to perform."_

 _Abaddon flashes out of sight. Sebastian looks around and then after a slight hesitation, disappears in a flash of dark red light._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _(A change of scene leads us to the Halliwell Manor)_

 _Piper, Phoebe and Paige stand in the attic, having just returned from the past._

" _My question is why did Abaddon send two warlock nobodies back in time to do all of this?" Phoebe asks._

" _Who knows?" Paige asks._

" _Who cares?" Piper adds, "Whatever his plan was, we foiled it so there's that."_

" _I don't know why but I have a strange feeling that there's more to this than we realize." Phoebe says._

 _Instantaneously, the Manor begins to rock and shake, knocking the Charmed Ones on their feet. Books fall of the shelf, the chandelier in the attic falls to the ground._

" _What the hell is going on?!" Phoebe yells._

" _An earthquake?" Paige guesses._

" _Your guess is as good as mine!" Piper yells back._

 _After a few minutes, the house stops shaking. Paige walks to the attic window and gasps._

" _That was weird." Piper says._

" _Uh, guys?" Paige says, "You might want to come take a look at this."_

 _Phoebe and Piper walk over to her and look down to see a huge crack, split the street in half, the houses across the street looks caved in and the cars parked on the street are sitting in sinkholes._

" _What the hell is going on?!" Phoebe asks once more._

 _A noise can be heard downstairs as muffled arguing and Piper, Phoebe and Paige stare at each other._

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _Downstairs in the living room, the chairs are flipped over, the lamps and tables are knocked over and the mirrors are cracked. The grandfather's clock was on the ground, shattered with glass everywhere. Billie, Laura, Wyatt, Chris, Tricia and Mellie's voices overlap each other as Piper, Phoebe and Paige enter the room and Piper lets out a loud whistle._

" _Ahhh!" everyone winces and the room falls silent._

" _Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on?" Phoebe asks._

" _You won't believe what your children just did." Billie says as she folds her arms._

" _Children?" Tricia scoffs, "More like Wyatt."_

" _What do you mean?" Paige asks._

" _All of this, the earthquake, the meteors, the sinkholes, everything." Laura says._

" _Wyatt?! What did you do?!" Piper asks._

" _Mom?" Wyatt begins to say, "I'm so sorry."_

 _The look of terror etched on Wyatt's face as tears form in his eyes leads Piper to believe that something massive just happened. What's even worse was the first words that came out of her son's mouth, words to the normal mother meant nothing significant but to Piper Halliwell, could mean the worst._

 _ **END OF FLASHBACKS**_

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A faint noise rings in his ears as debris and chaos surrounds him. His vision was a little blurred and his mind ran rampant with incomplete thoughts he was trying to understand. His heart had never raced this fast before; his throat was dry like the Sahara and he could feel his wave of heat washing over him as he looked around his surroundings. Wyatt stood in the middle of his living room in a trance, as his mother and his aunts magically appeared in the living room but he did not notice. His physical body was standing there before them but his mind was still trying to comprehend all that happened the last ten hours.

A loud whistle cuts through the deafening sound in his ears as Wyatt unfortunately snaps back to reality. As his mind catches up to the present time, he finally sees his mother standing in front of him wearing a look he has never seen her wear before in his life.

"Wyatt?!" Piper says as calmly as possible, "What did you do?"

"Mom…" Wyatt finally musters the strength to say as tears form and fall from his eyes, "I'm so sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" Phoebe joins in.

"Everything…" Wyatt whispers.

"What happened, honey?" Paige asks.

"I-I…" Wyatt stutters as the words struggle to escape his lips.

"He did the unthinkable, Piper…" Laura says, "The world as we know it is about to end."

Piper's eyes widen as she shifts her focus from Wyatt, unsure what to ask or what to say.

"Tell us what happened, Wyatt. Everything from beginning to end." Piper pleads.

Wyatt looks around the room as all eyes fall on him.

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 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

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STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Created by: Constance M. Burge

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Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, the oldest of the next generation of Halliwells lived his life with little to no problems at all. That's not to say that he never found himself in trouble; in fact, out of the three Halliwell children of Leo and Piper, he was the most troublesome but he always either slithered his way out of the clutches of punishment by way of his charm, favor or both. Being hailed as "Twice Blessed Child" and the wielder of Excalibur inflated his ego a little bit but Piper and Leo tried their best to humble their son as much as possible.

He was clearly favored by his parents and as much as they tried to hide it, Chris and Mellie could see it; Wyatt knew it and used it to his advantage. Growing up with this particular mindset made him feel entitled to a certain degree, with everything coming easy to him. In addition to being a bright student (not nearly as intellectually gifted as Chris), he was also an exceptional athlete who exceled at every sport he set his mind to with ease. This earned him the moniker "King Midas" because it was apparent to everyone that every endeavor he pursued and everything he touched was fruitful and successful.

This 14 year streak of good luck seemed to have come to an end for Wyatt as the world fell apart by his own doing. He sat before his family and for the first time in his life, he couldn't muster the words or exert the charm that came so easily to him in the past. His words were caught in his throat and a feeling of regret, heartbreak and pain wrestled within him as Piper, Phoebe and Paige continuously called on him to recall the events that had taken place during their trip to the past.

"Wow, this is the first time I've ever seen him speechless." Mellie whispers to Chris as they watch their brother frozen in fear.

"Maybe I should tell them what happened." Chris volunteers as he steps forward with his arms folded.

"No." Wyatt says as he glares angrily at Chris, "No, not you. I said I don't want anything to do with you anymore and I mean it."

Piper flinches at Wyatt's words as her eyes dart back and forth between her sons.

"Woah…" Paige gasps.

"What the hell happened?" Phoebe asks in surprise, "Did you do something, Chris?"

"I…" Chris begins to explain but Wyatt cuts him off.

"Don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth, Aunt Phoebe. All he knows how to do is lie."

"Okay, so why don't you fill us in." Paige says calmly.

Wyatt takes a deep breath as a single tear forms in his left eye and he wipes it quickly before it fell down his cheek.

"It started a few hours after school; we were supposed to meet up at our warehouse for practice…" Wyatt begins.

"We?" Paige asks, "Who's we?"

"Me, _him and Bianca_ …" Wyatt says, emphasizing the last part of that sentence with an angry gruff.

"Bianca, Bianca…" Phoebe ponders, "Why does that name sound so familiar?"

"Shhh!" Piper hisses loudly at her sister as she turns to look at Wyatt, "Continue…"

Wyatt closes his eyes as he tries his hardest to recall the last moments from the past few hours.

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A shot of the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen as the clouds rapidly speed past in reverse, signaling the reverse of time. The sun sets and the sky turns dark as the city lights illuminate once more. As time slows down, we see Wyatt running towards the warehouse as he checks his wrist for the time which reads 7:49 p.m.

"Damn it!" Wyatt curses as he continues to run towards the warehouse. He arrives at the warehouse and walks inside, expecting to find an angry Chris and Bianca to berate him for being late to practice again.

"I'm here! I'm here!" Wyatt shouts as he enters the final compartment of the warehouse, looking around for Bianca and Chris.

"Hello?" he shouts as the building repeats his words back to him in an echo, "Where the hell are they?"

Wyatt walks back outside and looks around once more. He takes out his cell phone and begins to walk away from the warehouse as he searches for Chris' number when he hears voices mumbling in the distance. He follows the voices and eventually arrives at the gazebo, lit up with decorative lights with Chris and Bianca sitting underneath.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Wyatt runs towards them but slows down to observe the demeanor of the two sitting together. Suspicion circulates in Wyatt's mind but he dismisses them fully and hops the fence in front of him and races to the gazebo. He sits between Chris and Bianca, out of breath as he explains his tardiness, "Sorry, I'm late. We had a meeting after school today that ran longer than expected. But I'm here now. I can get in at least an hour of training, because I know I'm long overdue."

Sensing the uncomfortable ambiance surrounding the two, Wyatt looks at Bianca and then looks at Chris as he proceeds to ask, "What's going on? Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're good." Bianca sniffles as she wipes a tear.

"Okay, so what's the training module for tonight?" Wyatt asks as he looks at Chris and Bianca once more in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Right…" Bianca says as she clears her throat and reaches for her backpack. She digs through and pulls out an aged, rolled up parchment.

"What is that?" Chris asks.

"On this paper is the first mission we have to accomplish." Bianca says.

"Mission? What mission?" Wyatt asks with his interest clearly piqued.

"A magical scavenger hunt." Bianca answers. She rolls out the paper on the bench as Wyatt shines his cell phone flash light on it.

"I don't see anything." Chris says as he squints his eyes, looking at the blank surface.

"It needs a spell to activate it…a spell in your Book of Shadows." Bianca says.

"Where did you get it?" Wyatt asks.

"I stole it from my mom's whitelighter…" Bianca answers.

Wyatt and Chris exchange a mutual ominous look and then looks at Bianca as Chris asks the question he was itching to ask himself, "What does this map lead to?"

"An ancient artifact presumed to be lost to the world…" Bianca begins as she pauses for a second, "The Ark of the Covenant."

"The Ark of the Covenant? Like biblical Ark?" Wyatt asks as he swallows a lump in his throat. Bianca nods her response.

"I don't know about this…" Wyatt says as he runs his fingers through his long golden hair. His mother always told him to trust his instincts whenever he had doubts but for some reason, he chose to ignore it this time.

"We're not the only ones looking for it. Evil is looking for it too and if they find it before we do and open it?" Bianca says, seeing the look of dread and uncertainty drawn on their faces.

"Why? What's in it?" Chris asks.

"Something called the _Ouroboros_ and whatever it is, it's enough to have the Elders be on high alert searching for it." Bianca answers, "So what do you say? You guys in? Or out?"

Wyatt takes a deep breath and looks at Chris once more hoping Chris shared the same concerns as he did. Chris' eyes mirrored his, the lingering look of apprehension that glistened in their blue eyes. His mind and intuition screamed one thing but his heart screamed another. As Wyatt finally mustered up the courage to turn down Bianca's offer, Chris provides his answer, much to Wyatt's surprise.

"In…" Chris says with certainty, "If we can prevent evil from getting their hands on it, then I'm in."

Taking Chris' answer as a sign, Wyatt relents and finally says "I guess I'm in too if Chris is…"

Bianca's face lights up as she rolls up the scroll and shoves it in her backpack. "You guys don't have any plans for the weekend, do you?" She stands up and begins to walk towards their training warehouse as she says a little louder, "Follow me. We have some work to do."

Wyatt and Chris exchange another look of anxiety but they both throw caution to the wind and run after Bianca as they enter the warehouse.

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Standing around a round table in the warehouse, Wyatt, Chris and Bianca shuffle through mountains of papers, digging up every bit of information they could find regarding the Ark and the Ouroboros.

Wyatt's eyes dart back and forth between his brother and Bianca, whose eyes are buried deep into their books. Frustrated, Wyatt slams his Book shut as he lets out a loud drawn out groan.

"You alright, Wyatt?" Bianca asks.

"This is boring and we have been reading about this for an hour and still haven't found anything useful." Wyatt says.

"He's right." Chris cosigns, "We need more books."

"Or we just need one book." Bianca says as she stares at Chris in a stern manner.

"No, we ruled that out. We're not going to do that." Chris answers.

"Why not? The Book of Shadows has all the information from all these books merged into one so why are we working harder, not smarter?" Bianca asks.

"It's dangerous." Chris says.

"Is it really?" Wyatt asks in a questionable tone.

"Wyatt?" Chris says as he sees the familiar look in his brother's eyes, "No."

"Look, it's our book too and we can make this thing a whole lot easier if we search through the Book rather that searching through this mess."

"For as long as we've been alive, how often have you seen, yet alone touched the Book or been left alone with it?" Chris asks as he folds his arms waiting for an answer.

Wyatt tries to come up with an excuse or an explanation but his mind went blank.

"Exactly. That's off the table." Chris says, "We got to use other alternatives."

"Alternatives? Like what?" Bianca asks.

"We can try Magic School." Chris suggests, "They have a lot of books there we can peruse."

"That doesn't help us out and besides, where did you think I got these books from?" Bianca asks.

"The Book of Shadows is our only chance at doing this in a fast and timely manner." Wyatt says.

Chris looks at his brother and then looks at Bianca and realizes that this is a battle he is not going to win.

"Fine." Chris concedes as Bianca shouts with glee, "But we are going to have to devise a plan because if we get caught…"

"Don't worry, we won't get caught." Wyatt says with confidence, "King Midas is at your service."

"So what's the game plan?" Bianca asks as Chris sighs heavily and Wyatt's smile grows.

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Blue and white orbs fill a dark room, illuminating the bedroom for a quick second and then a thump, followed by a yelp.

"Ow!" Chris screams.

"Shhh!" Wyatt whispers as he maneuvers his way towards the wall and turns on the light switch. Wyatt turns around and finds his brother's foot stuck in his football helmet. Wyatt snickers as Chris struggles to take the helmet off his foot.

"I told you to stop leaving your crap around." Chris says out of frustration as he yanks the helmet off and hurls it at his brother. Wyatt ducks as the helmet hits the door behind him.

"Sorry." Wyatt says with a smile, "But that was a little bit funny."

"Let's get this out of the way." Chris says as he rolls his eyes and walks towards the door.

"So what do we do now?" Chris asks.

"We head towards the attic and you keep watch." Wyatt says as he steps out of the bedroom and gestures to Chris to follow him.

Tip toeing and stepping lightly around the house, the boys walk through the hallway and approach the stairs leading up to the attic when Wyatt bumps into Leo.

"Dad!" Chris exclaims in surprise.

"Boys…" Leo says with a smile, "What are you guys up to?"

"We're just...uh…" Chris stutters.

"We were playing hide and go seek. Hiding from Mellie and Tricia." Wyatt lies.

"Really?" Leo says with a hint of disbelief in his voice, "Aren't you guys a little too old to be playing hide and go seek?"

"Dad, we're old but Mel and Tricia aren't…" Chris says, "We just want to help them maintain their innocence for as long as possible."

"By playing hide and go seek?" Leo asks.

"Dad, it's not like I make up the rules. Mellie wanted to hang with us and I couldn't say no to my baby sister." Wyatt says with a smile.

"Right…" Leo says doubtfully, "Anyway, I'm heading to L.A right now so I won't be here for a while. Watch out for your mother and sister for me, okay?"

"Will do, dad." Chris says as he steps aside as Leo walks away.

"Safe travels, dad!" Wyatt shouts after Leo as Leo walks down the stairs.

"Whew!" Wyatt says, breathing a sigh of relief, "That was close, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, let's get this over with." Chris says as he marches up the stairs and Wyatt follows him.

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Entering the attic of the Halliwell manor should come with a feeling of purpose and belonging but instead, Wyatt felt a feeling of dread and anxiety. As he walked into the attic with Chris closely behind him, his heartbeat was racing faster and his throat was beginning to feel dry. His palms grew sweaty and little beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

Both of the Halliwell brothers paused for a moment as they were struck with awe. The Book of Shadows lay on the podium before them, the dark green leather binding shining bright due to the light emanating from the chandelier that dangled directly above it.

"The Book of Shadows." Wyatt whispers, "Can't believe we are about to do this."

"Well, can we hurry up before someone comes up here?" Chris says as he marches to the Book and Wyatt joins him. Wyatt opens the Book and then pauses.

"How do we know what to look for?" Wyatt asks.

"Move over…" Chris says as he shoves Wyatt out of the way and begins to telekinetically flip through the Book.

"I guess that's one way to do it." Wyatt says.

"So we're looking for anything that has to do with the Ouroboros or the Ark or the map, right?" Chris asks.

"Yup."

"Great. This should be quick." Chris says.

Wyatt walks away from Chris and stares out the window to see Piper's car parked outside.

"Mom's home." Wyatt says.

"I know. I sensed her when we orbed in here."

"Well, excuse me…" Wyatt says as he begins to pace back and forth. After a brief silence, the topic that weighed heavily on his mind was fighting to the surface and reached his lips. Wyatt looks at Chris and with great trepidation and after a moment of clarity, he decides to forgo all worry and just ask the question.

"So Chris…" Wyatt begins to ask.

"Hmmm?" Chris says absentmindedly as he continues to flip through the Book.

"What do you think about Bianca?" Wyatt asks.

Chris pauses as he finally breaks his concentration and stares at Wyatt, "What do you mean about that?"

"I mean, do you think she's a good person to be around? Like how does her presence affect you?"

"Where is that coming from?" Chris asks.

"Just wondering. You two seem pretty close."

"Yeah, because we have spent so much time together practicing and training without you. Nothing more, nothing less." Chris says as he looks to the Book, in an effort to avoid Wyatt's gaze.

"No, I'm just saying that you two are close and looks like you can help me with my current dilemma."

"Current dilemma?" Chris asks, clearly confused. "I don't follow."

"You know for a person as smart as you are, you are pretty dumb sometimes." Wyatt says, "Never mind."

"No, go ahead. I can multi task, Wyatt. What are you trying to say?" Chris asks with a genuine tone as he continues to flip through the Book.

"It's really cool that Bianca is helping us do this, don't you think?" Wyatt asks.

"Yeah, I guess…" Chris shrugs nonchalantly as he takes a notepad and a pen that lay beneath the Book and begins to scribble.

"She is strong, ambitious, selfless, powerful..." Wyatt begins as he paces back and forth as he dreamily spits out all of Bianca's qualities he admired the most. As he kept talking, a warm feeling rose inside of his chest and he paused for a moment.

"She's funny too. You ever hear one of her jokes?" Wyatt asks Chris, who is still writing down every bit of information he could find.

"Yeah, I hear them all the time." Chris answers without paying attention.

"I don't know, Chris. There's something about her I just can't shake."

Chris' eyes rise from the pages of the Book and stare at his brother for a brief moment. In that moment which lasted for a few seconds felt like it was longer than that. Chris watches as his brother swoon and sigh as he continues to talk about Bianca. As a sudden rush of realization hits Chris, everything around him appears to move in slow motion as he blinks rapidly to try to make sense of what was unfolding before his eyes.

"Oh my God." Chris says quietly in his soft, smooth voice.

"What?" Wyatt says as he stops pacing, "What happened? Did you find something?"

"Yeah, but that's not what I'm talking about." Chris says as he brushes the strands of hair from his eyes, "You love her."

"Wait, huh?" Wyatt asks as he begins to blush.

"You are in love with her." Chris says a little bit louder.

"I think love is a bit excessive but I like her…" Wyatt says with a smile as he walks closer to his brother. Against all odds, Wyatt musters up the courage to do something he has never done before in his life, which is ask someone else for help or assistance.

"But I need your help because I think you can help me woo her…"

"Woo?" Chris says through a chuckle.

"Is that funny to you?"

"Never thought I would ever hear you say the word 'woo'"

"So what do you say?" Wyatt asks, "Please?"

Chris stood frozen for a moment, staring at his brother. Wyatt, who was usually good at figuring out what was going on in his brother's mind, couldn't get a clear read as Chris stared at him absentmindedly.

With a deep breath, Chris snaps out of his entranced state of mind and then whispers, "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, bro." Wyatt says with glee, "I knew I could count on you."

"Yeah, yeah. Seeing you groveling is not a good look for 'King Midas'" Chris says as he resumes flipping through the pages. Chris' eyes widen as soon as his eyes hit the pages of the Book.

"This is it." Chris says.

"Wait, you found something?" Wyatt asks as he runs to Chris' side and stares down at the page.

"The whole story of the Ark." Chris says.

The page of the Ark was on the left depicted a golden chest on one corner of the left page and the Ouroboros on the right showed a drawing of a large serpent curled in a circle, while biting down on its own tail with the passage written within the circle.

" _The Ark of Covenant is a golden chest crafted by the Taxiarchs for the sole purpose of safeguarding the weapons used to wage the war between Good and Evil. The weapons that lay inside of the ark are collectively known as the 'Ouroboros'."_ Wyatt reads.

"Ok, we already knew that….sort of." Chris says.

"We didn't know the Taxiarchs created the Ark though."

"At this point, it doesn't surprise me if they are connected to everything." Chris says without taking his eyes off the page.

"Well, it also says here that the Ark is protected and shielded by ancient magic and only can be found by those who possess the same amount of power." Wyatt says, "Whatever that means."

"It means that most likely it was protected by Taxiarch magic and only a Taxiarch can find it." Chris explains, "Too bad all of them are basically dead."

"All but Laylah." Wyatt reminds his brother, "Remember, she's a Taxiarch too."

"So basically we need her powers to find this thing?" Chris ponders, "I guess that's out of the question."

"There's more…" Wyatt says as he continues to read the page with the Ouroboros. " _The Ouroboros are weapons forged by the ancient gods known as the Taxiarchs. The weapons were used to create and harness magic, as well as create & govern the grand design in which the mortal and magical worlds follow. Believing the Ouroboros wielded too much power for anyone to have; Gambrel used his powers to conceal and protect the weapons and buried the Ark in an unknown tomb only known to Gambrel himself. He then separated his magic and forged them into four stones, and spread them across the world in order to keep anyone from using his powers to unlock the Ark. He designated one person worthy of protecting the large concentration of magic in his stead, only known as the Arcturus, though after the death of the original Arcturus, no one knows who his successor is."_

"What else?" Chris asks.

"That's it. There's nothing else." Wyatt says as he glances over the pages once more.

"Nothing? Are you sure? Like nothing about the Arcturus or a spell to activate the map or anything like that?" Chris asks.

"Nope. That's all she wrote." Wyatt says.

"Let me see…" Chris says as he reads the passages to himself quietly.

"I don't know what you're looking for" Wyatt says as he steps aside and folds his arms, "You ain't going to…"

" _Con fir desiderata._ " Chris mumbles.

"What?" Wyatt asks.

"At the bottom of the page, it says ' _C. F Desiderata_ '" Chris says.

"Yeah, I know. It's in Latin, didn't think it was relevant. It's not like we know what that means." Wyatt shrugs.

"It means to search things that are yearned for." Chris says as he begins to search through the Book for a specific page.

"You, uh…" Wyatt begins to stutter, "You know how to speak Latin?"

"That surprises you?" Chris asks with a smile.

"Fourteen years I've known you and I never knew."

"You never asked." Chris says.

"It doesn't seem like the type of thing that comes up in conversation." Wyatt says, "I am a little bit impressed."

"I think I have found something…wisdom, balance, unbecoming, abundance, faith, healing, faithfulness…" Chris reads, "Which one of these do you think applies to this Ark and Ouroboros business?"

"I don't know." Wyatt says as he steps closer and reads the page, "Try balance."

"Why balance?"

"I mean the Ouroboros was used to create the grand design which is the balance of power between good and evil so…" Wyatt says in an uncertain tone.

"It's worth a shot." Chris says as he flips the pages and lands on a different page, "Wow, you were right. A whole page on the Arcturus."

A prideful smile grows on Wyatt's face as he folds his arms, "You people doubt me too much."

Chris rolls his eyes and begins to read to himself, "So apparently, this Arcturus person is the only one who can find the Ark, unless we have the powers of Gambrel instead."

"How do we get find the powers of a man who is no longer around?" Wyatt asks.

"The blade of Gambrel. Remember he split his powers into stone and Uncle Coop had it forged into a blade? We just have to find it and use that to lead us to the Ark."

"What about the map?" Wyatt asks again.

"It says the map was created to find the Ark in case the Arcturus cannot be identified and the stones have the power to uncover the Ark and unleash the Ouroboros." Chris explains.

"So what do we do?" Wyatt asks.

"Nothing. We just use this spell and see where it leads us." Chris says.

"And what if it is to nowhere?" Wyatt asks.

"We'll figure it out when we get to it. We have more information now than we did thirty minutes ago so this is better than nothing."

From a distance, footsteps and muffled voices can be heard drawing closer.

"Did you hear that?" Wyatt asks.

"Yeah, someone is coming into the attic." Chris says as he closes his eyes briefly and then opens them, "It is Aunt Paige."

"Let's orb out of here." Wyatt suggests as he turns around to orb out but Chris stops him.

"What about the spell?" Chris asks.

"We'll come back for it." Wyatt says.

"No, we need it. We don't know how long Aunt Paige is going to be up here for." Chris says.

"She isn't going to be up here forever." Wyatt says.

"Wyatt!" Chris grunts.

"You know of any invisibility spells?" Wyatt asks.

"Ugh…maybe."

"Then hurry."

Chris grabs Wyatt's hands and with a whisper, chants in Latin " _Evanescea_ …"

A quick blue and white light surrounds them and they disappear from sight. Paige marches into the attic and walks straight to the open book. Paige looks at the book in confusion, staring at the page with the Arcturus passage. She shrugs and flips through the book as she mumbles to herself.

"Come on. Give me something…" Paige says as she flips through the pages in frustration, "Anything…"

Within a mere second later, Piper's voice can be heard in the distance yelling Paige's name.

"Paige?!"

Paige pauses for a second and grimaces in pain as she rubs her temples to alleviate her headache. She rolls her eyes and continues to flip through the Book.

"Whatever it is can wait…" Paige says to herself.

"PAIGE MATTHEWS MITCHELL! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW!" Piper can be heard screaming.

"Ugh, seriously?!" Paige mutters as she slams the Book of Shadows shut and storms out of the attic angrily.

The invisibility spell wears off and Chris and Wyatt become corporeal.

"That was close." Wyatt says.

"Yeah, let's get the spell and get out of here." Chris says as he walks to the Book and flips through it rapidly with his powers. He lands on a certain page as he grabs his notepad and pen and writes down the spell.

"Got it." Chris says as he orbs out of the attic and Wyatt follows suit. In the dark corner on the opposite side in the attic, Melinda steps out of the shadows and walks to the Book of Shadows. She sees the page and then stares off in the distance, pondering what her brothers were up to.

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Nerve wracked, Bianca paces back and forth as she awaits the Halliwell brothers' return. As the blue and white lights begin to materialize in midair, her apprehensive look subsides and her look of glee begins to take form. Wyatt and Chris appear as the orbs disappear.

"So were we successful?" Bianca asks.

"You have no idea what we found out." Chris says as he walks to the table and sits down. Wyatt joins him and Bianca comes around.

"Well?"

"We have the spell." Wyatt says.

"Great!" Bianca shouts happily.

"But reading about this whole thing sounds pretty dangerous. I still don't think we are ready to take this on." Chris says.

"We are ready, Chris." Bianca says in an effort to dissuade Chris, "We are knowledgeable enough to know how to defend ourselves, we are well versed and this whole Ouroboros thing has nothing to do with us. We have to do it for the greater good."

"She's right, Chris." Wyatt says as he stands up.

"What?" Chris asks in disbelief.

"You read about the Ouroboros. If evil is after it, we have to try and get it before they do or else the worst will happen…whatever that is. Can you honestly let this rest on your conscience if we sat down and did nothing while the world fell apart?"

"No, but…"

"Come on, Chris." Wyatt doubles down, "Let's prove to our parents we are able to do this without them. That we are ready to take over the family legacy."

Chris stares at his brother and sees the determination in his eyes. He looks at Bianca, who is standing behind Wyatt with her soft brown eyes begging Chris for his cooperation. Taking a deep sigh, Chris concedes and runs his hands through his dark brown hair.

"Fine." Chris says as he flips open his notebook, "Where's the map?"

Bianca runs to the table, covered with books and slides them all off the table. She takes the ancient parchment and spreads it across the table. Chris and Wyatt walk up to the table and exchange one final look among each other.

"Since you are so eager to do this…" Chris says as he hands the notepad to Wyatt, "It would be appropriate if you cast the spell."

Wyatt stared at his brother with a puzzled look. After hesitating, Wyatt grabs the notebook and with a deep inhale and exhale, he chants:

" _Stars of night  
Shine so bright.  
Cast your light to ease thy plight.  
We will follow where thou dost lead  
Show us the way so we may heed."_

Light shoots from the sky and strikes the map in the center as the white light lights up the entire warehouse. A wave of energy sweeps across the room and knocks the boys and Bianca, causing them to fall to the ground. The map begins to glow as lines begin to form across the map. The Halliwell brothers and Bianca stand and stare in awe as the map becomes more detailed and defined.

"This is so cool." Bianca whispers, as she can barely contain her excitement. The beam of light disappears and the room returns to normal. A faint golden glow shines in the corner of the map.

"What's that?" Chris asks.

"It looks like whatever we're looking for, that's where it is." Bianca answers.

Wyatt leans closer to the map as he reads off the street names, "Fairmont and Crystal Lake Drive"

"Well, let's get going." Chris says

"I'm coming with you guys this time." Bianca blurts out as she rolls up the map.

"No, I don't think so…" Chris says.

"Come on, Chris." Wyatt pleads, "It's because of her that's why we are doing this. Don't leave her out."

Chris sighs and looks at Bianca, "Follow our lead. Don't do anything to draw attention to yourself."

"Promise." Bianca says with glee.

Chris nods and orbs out. Wyatt, smiling and blushing orbs out shortly afterwards. Bianca takes a deep breath and shimmers out as well. Hiding in the shadows, Sebastian steps out with his eyes glowing in a cloudy white color. His eyes return to their normal form and smiles. He looks around and disappears in a flash of purple light.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Wyatt and Chris appear in a dark alley filled with garbage cans and filled black trash bags. Bianca shimmers in a second later as they wince and grimace at the stench that was so strong, it was likely to melt off the hairs in their nostrils.

"Oh my God." Wyatt says as he covers his mouth with his jacket, "What the hell is that smell?"

"We couldn't find a better spot to orb to?" Chris asks.

"Can we just focus on the mission at hand here?" Bianca shouts as she unrolls the map. The map begins to change to adjust to their new surroundings.

"Woah…" Bianca gasps.

"What happened?" Chris asks as he walks closer to Bianca and stares at the map.

"The map is changing…" Bianca says.

"Maybe it changes to give us a closer look at what we're looking for?" Wyatt guesses.

"Maybe." Chris adds, "What does it say now?"

"It is showing the blueprint of this building right here…" Bianca says as she points the building across the street, "Whatever we're looking for is in there."

"Should we orb in there?" Wyatt asks.

"No." Chris answers, "We don't want to risk exposure in case we orb into a room filled with mortals."

"So why don't we just sense to see if there's anyone in the room?" Wyatt asks.

"Because it's riskier to do it your way. Let's just go." Chris says as he begins to cross the street.

Bianca looks Wyatt and shrugs. They cross the street and walk into the building. As they enter the building, the second door is locked shut and Chris jiggles the handle but the door doesn't budge.

"It's locked." Chris says.

"Stand aside." Bianca says as she waves her hand at the handle and the handle turns bright orange and melts off the door.

"I mean I could've just unlocked it with my power, your way wasn't a bit too excessive. Nope, not at all." Chris says sarcastically as they walk to the stairs and stand in the lobby. The three teens stood in front of two silver elevator doors and had two elevator doors behind them.

"What's the next step?" Chris asks.

Bianca looks at the map, waiting for the map to stop shifting. A brief moment later, the blueprint shows the third floor of the apartment building and reveals the room number.

"Third floor, room 314." Bianca says as she presses the button. A ding sounds the air as the elevator doors open and the three witches step inside. Wyatt presses the button and the elevator doors close. As they arrive on the third floor, the trio step out and walk down the corridor, searching for the apartment number.

Counting down the numbers as they pass by, they finally arrive at room 314 and they pause as they exchange nervous glances.

"This is it." Wyatt says quietly as he looks at the door. With a flick of his finger, Chris opens the door telekinetically and then steps inside the dark apartment. Bianca follows shortly afterwards and Wyatt joins them as he gently shuts the door behind him.

"What do we do now?" Chris whispers.

"I can't see." Bianca says as she tip toes around the apartment.

"I got it covered." Wyatt says as he shoots white golden orbs from his fingers and three balls of light hover above them, illuminating their path for a few feet.

"That's cool." Bianca says with a smile as Wyatt smiles back with a blush.

Bianca looks at the map and the map rearranges to map out the layout of the apartment they are currently in.

"It's in a room in the back." Bianca says as she walks towards the back with Wyatt and Chris behind her. The silvery beam of the moonlight shines upon the wall in the living room, casting a shining light which catches Wyatt's eye. Wyatt stops and turns around to face the bare wall on the living room. Wyatt waves his hand at the wall and items begin to unveil, revealing a flow chart, various post-it notes, and drawings littered all over the wall. Wyatt's eyes widen at what he sees as his mouth drops open in surprise.

"Guys?!"

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Bianca and Chris walk into the bedroom and turn on the light.

"It should be here somewhere. I just have to see what the map tells me." Bianca says.

"Ok." Chris says as the room fills with silence.

"So we're pretending that we don't mean anything to each other anymore?" Chris asks.

"Chris, this is not the time nor place…"

"I'm just making an observation."

"Whatever we're looking for is in the closet." Bianca says.

"Way to change the subject." Chris says.

"We're on a mission, right?" Bianca says, "You made it perfectly clear that you don't want anything to do with me because of your brother."

"Come on, B. You got to give me more credit than that." Chris pleads as he watches Bianca walk into the closet, "We can't talk about anything, especially with Wyatt around…" Chris says.

"I don't see Wyatt around, do you?" Bianca says looking around.

"Where is he?" Chris asks as he looks around.

"He's probably out there keeping watch or something." Bianca says. "Do you know of any tracker spells? I don't know what exactly I'm looking for here."

"I don't know." Chris says, "Uh… _aspectus invisus_?"

A glow begins to shine in the back of the closet as the light grows brighter and brighter.

"Way to go, Chris." Bianca says impressively, "Can you use your power to bring it to us?"

Chris steps forward and with a wave of his hand guides the light towards them. The light drifts closer and closer to them until it rises out of the closet.

"Set it on the bed." Bianca says.

Chris does what he is told as the light hovers over the mattress in front of them.

"What is it?" Bianca ponders.

"There's only one way to find out." Chris answers as he clears his throat, " _Remotis lux._ "

The light fades from the object as a small wooden box materializes. Chris picks up the box and removes the lid and his eyes widen.

"What is it?" Bianca asks.

Chris takes the item out of the box and shows it to her. The dark red micarta carved handle with a dark green emerald blade with a Latin inscription engraved on the side glistened in the light of the golden orbs that hovered above the two.

"What's this?" Bianca asks.

"The four stones of Gambrel forged into a blade." Chris says as excitement creeps across his face, "Which means…"

"We have the power of Gambrel to find and unlock the Ark." Bianca finishes his sentence. The two stare into each other's eyes, taking in the moment of victory and lost in the amorous feeling that overwhelmed them. As they move closer to each other, Wyatt's voice shatters the moment and they return to their reality.

"GUYS?!" Wyatt shouts from the living room.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Running into the living room, Chris and Bianca join Wyatt with panic in their voice and sense of emergency in the air.

"What happened?" Chris asks with concern.

"Are you okay?" Bianca adds.

Without saying a word, Wyatt points to the wall and Chris and Bianca turn to face the same direction Wyatt was.

"What is this?" Bianca asks.

"This is what you called us over here for?" Chris says, sounding slightly disappointed.

"We thought you were being attacked or something." Bianca says in a slightly scolding voice.

"No, read what is on the wall." Wyatt says as he moves closer to the wall.

"I don't know what you see, Wyatt." Chris says as he squints his eyes to try to decipher what Wyatt sees, "Just a bunch of notes and post-its."

"Do you see what the subject is about?" Wyatt asks.

"The Uncovering?" Bianca reads off of one of the notes, "What the hell is the Uncovering?"

"The Uncovering is the discovery of the weapon buried long ago by the Taxiarchs. Apparently Abaddon is looking for this." Wyatt points out.

"Oh my God." Chris whispers.

"I told you we are not the only ones searching for this. Whoever did this was one step closer to discovering the Ark. They had the blade and the only thing they were missing was the map." Bianca says.

"Now I'm wondering who this person is." Chris says.

"Let's get out of here before we find out." Wyatt advises as he turns around to walk away. In a blink of an eye, a tiny blasting sound can be heard as he flies across the room and crashes onto a table.

"Wyatt!" Bianca screams.

A second later, Chris can be heard screaming as he flies through a door and lands into another room.

Bianca assumes a fighting stance on the defense, ready to fight as a shadow figure stands before her. As Bianca engages into hand to hand combat with this unknown figure, she conjures an energy ball and hurls it at her opponent but her opponent ducks and avoids getting hit. With every punch she throws, her opponent counters with another. With every kick she performs, her opponent blocks it with her leg. Her opponent ducks and performs a sweeping kick, knocking Bianca to the ground.

"Who the hell are you people?!" a female voice says as she stands over Bianca with her foot on her neck.

"Let her go!" Chris' voice can be heard in the distance.

Wyatt walks up to Chris and turns on the switch next to him as he groans in pain.

"Wyatt?!" the female voice says, "Chris?!"

"Laura?!" Chris gasps as he rubs his neck.

Laura stares at the Halliwell brothers and then at Bianca with a look mixed with anger and surprise.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"What the hell is going on?" Laura asks, "What are you guys doing here?"

"Can you ask these questions with your foot off of my next?" Bianca strains.

"I know who they are. I don't know who you are so…"

"She's a friend, Laura. You can let up. She's cool." Wyatt says.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Laura takes her foot off of Bianca and helps her up.

"Thanks." Bianca says with a strain in her voice as she attempts to clear her throat.

"Now answer my question." Laura repeats, "What the hell are you guys doing here?"

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?" Wyatt shoots back.

"This is my apartment. I ask the questions." Laura answers.

"Your apartment?" Chris asks as he looks around, "Oops."

"Oops? You still didn't answer my question." Laura says.

"We were looking for something." Wyatt says vaguely.

"Looking for what?" Laura asks.

The room is filled with silence as the three remain mute.

"Oh so now we are not going to talk?" Laura asks, "Does Piper know you guys are here?"

Silence.

"I guess I have to call her and find out." Laura says as she takes out her cell phone.

"NO! NO! DON'T!" Chris and Wyatt shout as they rush towards Laura to stop her from making the phone call.

"Thought so…" Laura says as she hangs up the phone.

"What is that on the wall?" Bianca asks Laura as she points to the wall.

"None of your business." Laura answers, "And how did you guys uncover this? It was magically cloaked."

"What's the Uncovering?" Wyatt asks.

"Like I said, it's nothing you need to concern yourselves with." Laura says as she moves towards the wall. After mumbling a few words, the notes and charts on the wall disappear from sight.

"We might be able to help." Chris says but Laura chuckles.

"I doubt that very much."

"The weapon you are looking for; the weapon Abaddon is looking for is called the Ouroboros and it is hidden in the Ark of the Covenant, sealed away from everyone but we may be able to find it." Wyatt blurts out.

"WYATT!" Chris and Bianca shout angrily.

"What?!" Wyatt asks innocently.

"How do you know about all of that?" Laura asks.

"Like we said, we know more than you think and we can help." Bianca says.

"Still comes back to my original question, how?" Laura asks.

"We'll tell you what we know if you tell us what you know." Bianca answers.

"You guys are not in the position to be negotiating terms." Laura says as she notices her bedroom door open ajar. Her eyes shift from the door to the three teens and a look of realization hits her.

"The blade." She mumbles, "You guys are here for the blade."

"Laura…" Chris begins to talk as he takes out the blade but Laura stops him.

"Give it to me." Laura says as she extends her right arm.

"No, we can't. We need it." Bianca says.

"It's not yours to take. The Charmed Ones trusted me with the blade for safe keeping." Laura says, "And I ain't going to let you guys take it."

"We don't have a choice, Laura." Chris says as he pleads with her, "We have to do this."

" _Concalo!_ " Laura chants as the blade disappears from Chris' hands and materializes into Laura's.

"What…do all of you guys know how to cast Latin spells?" Wyatt says.

"I think I should make that phone call to your parents, because you guys are starting to stray in to dangerous territory."

Wyatt stares at Laura and his heart races with every second that passes by. His mind went blank and his blood ran hot with fury. His patience wore thin and his ambitious nature began to turn into desperation. His sound of his heartbeat pounded heavily in his ears, time around him slowed down as his brother, Bianca and Laura argued.

He waves his hand and the blade orbs from Laura's hand into his. Everyone stops arguing as all eyes fall on Wyatt.

Chris and Bianca stood on opposite sides of Wyatt with Laura standing in front of him. Wyatt stood in the center as he looked down at the blade in his hand and looks at Laura.

"I'm sorry, Laura." Wyatt whispers, but loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. As Laura lunges towards Wyatt, Wyatt closes his eyes and clenches his fist. Laura freezes in midair as she looks down at Wyatt with fear in her eyes. Wyatt waves his clenched fist and Laura flies into the wall, head first and is knocked unconscious. As Chris and Bianca look on in horror, Wyatt turns around to face them with a look in his eyes neither of them recognized.

Without emotion, Wyatt says, "Let's go. We have work to do."

Wyatt walks out, leaving Chris and Bianca still frozen in shock. Bianca follows Wyatt out and Chris follows her soon after.

TO BE CONTINUED


	21. 10x10: All Wyatt on the Witches Front(2)

**10x10: All Wyatt on the Witches' Front (Part 2)**

Back in the warehouse, Wyatt sits at the table with Chris pacing back and forth and Bianca sitting across from Wyatt with her feet resting on the table. The atmosphere of the warehouse was tense as each of them tried to wrap their mind around what just happened and where they go from there.

Wyatt, clearly getting frustrated with his brother's pacing takes a deep breath and growls, "Do you really need to be doing that right now?"

"Did you really have to knock Laura out?" Chris counters.

"She was in our way. Didn't have a choice, Chris." Wyatt says.

"Didn't have a choice? I could've easily casted a sleeping curse to knock her out. You didn't have to do all of that." Chris argues.

"Well there is nothing we can do about it now." Wyatt says in a low voice.

"What if she wakes up and goes to mom and tells her what we did?" Chris asks, "What _you_ did?"

The thought of his mother and his aunts had not even entered his mind. As much as Wyatt loved Piper, his level of respect for her went hand in hand with his fear of disappointing her. He contemplated that thought for a moment and shrugged it off, knowing that ship had sailed at this point.

"We will deal with that later." Wyatt says coldly as he turns his gaze to Bianca, "What's next in our plan?"

"Um…" Bianca stutters, "We try to find the ark."

"Where do we start?" Wyatt asks.

"The last known place where the Ark was located was in Ethiopia. And according to Laura's little flow chart, there were demons digging in search for the weapon which I am assuming is the Ark in the underworld part of Ethiopia so we can start there." Bianca says.

"Good." Wyatt says as he stands up, "Let's go."

Chris stares at Bianca, making an effort to communicate with her non verbally but Bianca shrugs it off. Chris shakes his head and folds his arms.

"Before we go off to this mission, we need some more ammunition." Chris suggests.

"Ammunition? What do you mean?" Wyatt asks.

"We have to go armed with potions, spells and the like. We can't just wander through the underworld without reinforcements."

"We don't need that kind of stuff." Wyatt says, "My powers are enough."

"Not all of us are us powerful as you, Wyatt." Chris argues back.

"Ok, guys. We need to calm down." Bianca says, trying to reduce the tension.

"I'm calm." Wyatt says coolly, "Can't say the same about Chris."

"I don't know what's happening to you but you're not thinking clearly." Chris says.

Wyatt steps to Chris aggressively and Bianca steps between the two brothers.

"Ok, time out." Bianca screams, "Chris is right. Just in case we need to defend ourselves and you're preoccupied, our powers may not be enough. And besides, you don't know how to use your full powers yet, so you might need the potions too."

Wyatt still glaring at Chris with a hardened stare looks down at Bianca and his gaze weakens.

"Fine." Wyatt says, "Where do we go for these potions?"

"I know how to concoct the potions. That's not the problem." Chris says, "I just need the ingredients."

"Ok, so where do we get the ingredients? New age stores? Chinatown?" Bianca asks.

"No. All those places are closed. It's too late." Chris answers, "We have to go back to the Manor."

"What if mom and our aunts are there?" Wyatt asks.

"We will have to cloak ourselves and be quick." Chris says.

"Let's do it." Bianca says quietly.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A quick exterior shot of the Halliwell Manor in the night is seen and in the dark attic, the blue and white orbs materialize with Chris and Wyatt and Bianca standing in its place. Bianca's eyes scanned the room as they tried to gather their thoughts.

"So now what?" Wyatt asks.

"I have already cloaked us so we are invisible to anyone who isn't us." Chris says as he heads towards the supplies chest in the corner of the attic.

"Wow." Bianca says as she looks around in awe, "I never thought I would ever be in here."

She turns around to face the Book of Shadows. Her eyes widen and her eyes well up with tears of joy as she whispers but no words come out.

"You okay?" Chris asks with a smile.

" _The Book of Shadows_." Bianca whispers as she walks closer to the Book.

"You can go ahead and touch it if you want." Chris says.

"Maybe not…" Bianca says as she snaps back to reality and takes a step back.

"Why not?" Chris asks.

"This book is not really friendly to strangers." Bianca says as she steps back and tucks her hair behind her ears nervously.

"You're not a stranger." Wyatt says, "We trust you."

"Yeah, I know but better safe than sorry." Bianca says as she clears her throat.

"Can we get the ingredients before someone finds out we are here?" Chris says.

"We don't even know what you need." Wyatt says as he looks around, perplexed.

"Grab a handful of every ingredient you can find. I'll sort them out later." Chris says.

As the trio rummages through the boxes and chests in the attic, a soft female voice is heard saying in the distance, "You cannot be serious."

Wyatt jumps and Chris and Bianca stop in their tracks. Wyatt looks at Bianca and Chris and Chris puts his finger to his lips, telling them to remain silent.

"I know it's you guys, Wyatt & Chris." Mellie's voice can be heard saying as she steps out of the shadows with Tricia by her side, "Reveal yourselves or I will use a spell to do it."

Chris looks at his brother and shrugs in defeat. Chris snaps his fingers and the three of them become corporeal.

"How did you know we were here?" Chris asks his little sister.

"I have been watching you guys." Mellie says as she folds her arms.

"Don't you know that it is rude to spy on people?" Wyatt snaps.

"No." Tricia says as she folds her arms, "But I know it's rude to break into people's houses, steal their items and knock them out."

Speechless, Wyatt stares at Bianca and Chris and then at Mellie.

"How did you know about that?" Chris asks.

"Laura is here. She told Billie what you did." Mellie says, "They have been scrying for you but they haven't had much luck. I'm assuming wherever you were hiding has a protection spell."

Chris, Bianca and Wyatt look at each other and Bianca shrugs, "At least we know your protection spell works."

"Where's mom?" Wyatt asks.

"Somewhere between 1977 and 2001." Tricia laughs.

"Huh?" Chris asks in confusion.

"She went into the past with Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige to save Paige." Mellie answers.

"So they're not here?" Bianca says with a slight sigh of relief.

"And you must be Bianca." Tricia says as she steps forward.

"Uh yeah." Bianca says.

"Look, we don't have time for all of this. Time's ticking and we need to get these things and get going." Wyatt says.

"Whatever you guys are doing, we want to help." Tricia says, "We want in."

"No." Chris says adamantly.

"Why not?" Mellie asks in a slightly whiny voice.

"It's too dangerous." Chris says, "Besides, we don't have time to have you guys play catch up."

"You guys are searching for the Ark, which contains the magical weapons of mass destruction also known as the Ouroboros. You want to find it before the evil people do, which I'm assuming is Abaddon, who will most likely use it to rule the underworld if he gets it first." Mellie rambles, "How am I doing so far?"

"Wow." Bianca says with an impressed tone.

"How do you know all of that?" Chris asks.

"Like I said, we have been watching you guys. You guys need to learn to read to yourselves instead of reading aloud." Mellie says.

"The answer is still no." Chris reiterates.

"Look, Billie and Laura are about to launch a full on search party for you and that's without our parents and you do _not_ want that. You need us to help counteract that." Tricia says.

"And how would you help?" Bianca asks.

"Do not try to entertain this, Bianca." Chris says, "We are not including them in this!"

"Sidebar." Wyatt calls as he steps to the side. He nods his head in an attempt to call his brother and Bianca over to his side.

Chris walks over with Bianca and they begin to whisper.

"I think it might be a good idea to bring them in." Bianca says.

"No." Chris whispers angrily, "We are not including them in."

"With their powers, they can help keep Billie and Laura at bay while we finish what we started." Bianca says.

"How?!" Chris asks, "They are too young to bring them into this."

"The more hands on deck we have, the easier we can navigate through this and be successful." Bianca says, "There's only so much we can handle. They can help ease the burden."

"No!" Chris stands his ground, "We are not endangering the lives of my baby sister and cousin just to make this easier on us. We have had months of training with our powers and spells and we are still novices. We can't say the same for them. That alone should be a good enough reason to not include them."

Chris turns to Wyatt and begins to plead with him, "You know I'm right, Wyatt. Please tell me you see my reason."

Wyatt takes a deep breath as his eyes dart back and forth between Chris and Bianca, "With them on our side, we have a better chance of accomplishing this. I agree with Bianca."

Chris scoffs in disappointment as he steps back, "I can't believe this. I don't know if I recognize you right now."

"Chris…" Bianca says as she reaches out to him but he backs away.

"No." Chris says, "If they come with, I'm out."

"You can't." Bianca says.

"Well, I am…" Chris says as he voice cracks.

"Listen. We are going to do this with or without you." Wyatt says, "Without you, Mellie and Tricia are at a greater risk of getting hurt. You don't want that on your conscience, do you?"

Chris looks back at his sister and cousin and then back to Bianca and Wyatt.

"Wow…" Chris mutters softly as he shakes his head in disbelief. He stares off into the deep space and then mutters, "After this is over, I'm done. No more practices, no more training, no more. I'm done with this. I'm done with you."

"Come on! Stop being dramatic." Wyatt shouts.

"I'm serious and if anything happens to them, it's on you." Chris says as he turns around and walks away from the group and begins to rummage through the chest. Wyatt and Bianca walk to Tricia and Mellie.

"Welcome to the team." Bianca says with a smile.

Tricia and Mellie stare at each other and smile with glee.

"Now what?" Wyatt asks.

"We distract Billie and Laura and keep them here and out of the way." Tricia says.

"How do we do that?" Wyatt asks.

"We utilize the others' powers for that." Mellie says.

"Others?" Bianca asks.

Mellie whistles loudly and immediately Paris and Paisley appear in a beam of pink light and Gabrielle, Penny and Henry Jr. orb in right beside them.

"We are at your service." Mellie says as she turns to Wyatt and Bianca with a smile.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Laura and Billie rush through the Manor, practically jumping up the stairs as they head up to the attic. Laura's fury was felt as she breezed through the Manor with Billie tagging behind. Laura had a one track mind and after what Wyatt did to her a few hours earlier, vengeance was on her mind and her anger fueled her motives.

"Ok, Laura, slow down!" Billie says out of breath as she runs after Laura.

"I don't have time to wait." Laura says, "Wyatt and Chris took the blade and are planning to do God knows what."

"Calm down." Billie says, "What are you going to do? We can't find them. We have tried scrying, summoning spells and everything else but there's no other way to get them here."

"We can use blood magic to summon them. We haven't tried that yet." Laura suggests.

"Blood magic?" Billie says in confusion, "Piper, Phoebe and Paige are not here to give their blood for a summoning spell."

"They're not the only ones who share blood with them." Laura says.

"No! You're not thinking about using Mellie, are you?" Billie asks.

"Why not?"

"She's 9 and a half years old, Laura. That's wrong!" Billie says with a hint of disgust in her voice.

"Fine, then we can go to Leo and ask him to help us out." Laura says.

"Laura, no." Billie says as she grabs Laura's hand and turns her around.

"Billie…"

"Laura, I know you're angry at Wyatt for what he did to you but we have to think clearly and make rational decisions. We cannot let the anger blind you from doing the right thing. We will find them but we can find a better way." Billie says calmly, "Ok?"

Laura takes a deep breath as she looks away. She stares at Billie and finally relents.

"Fine." Laura says, "But we're against the clock and we have to stop them before it's too late. I want to find them before Piper comes back."

"And we will." Billie promises, "Let's just take a breath and think of other ways to find them. Even if we find them, how are we going to get them to listen to reason?"

Laura smile as she turns around and heads up the stairs of the attic with Billie following closely behind, "Plan B."

"What's Plan B?" Billie asks as she enters the attic with Laura. Laura's pace slows down as her eyes fall on Wyatt, Chris and Bianca standing over the Book of Shadows. Billie, with a look of shock sprawled across her face looks back and forth between Wyatt and Laura.

"Wyatt? Chris?" Billie says cautiously, "What's going on?"

"We have some business to take care of and we're running out of time." Wyatt says.

"What kind of business?" Billie asks.

"You already know what it is, Billie." Chris scoffs, "We know Laura told you about it already."

"And who's she?" Billie asks as her eyes fall on Bianca.

"A friend." Chris answers.

"A friend? Standing next to the Book?" Billie asks, "You know that you guys are not allowed to be using the Book and that goes double for strangers, Wyatt."

"It's our Book too." Chris shouts.

"And we trust her." Wyatt says sharply.

"You're missing the point, Wyatt." Billie says, trying to reason with them.

"Look, we're running out of time, guys." Bianca says, "We got to go."

"I'm sorry. I can't allow that." Laura says as she steps forward.

"And who's going to stop us?" Bianca asks, " _You_?"

"You obviously didn't learn your lesson when my foot was on your neck." Laura says boldly, "Maybe, I need to refresh your memory."

"And you apparently didn't learn your lesson when I threw you across the room with the flick of my hand." Wyatt steps in.

"Wyatt!" Billie gasps.

"Listen, I'm sure this banter is entertaining and all but we actually have work to do." Chris says, "The longer we wait, the closer Abaddon is to getting the Ark and the weapons that lay inside."

"And you think you have the power to stop him?" Billie asks.

"All three of us combined can…" Wyatt says with confidence.

"I won't let that happen." Laura says.

"You don't have a choice." Bianca says menacingly.

"Say who? You?" Laura chuckles.

"Yes. Me." Bianca says as she slowly forms an energy ball.

"Ok, we need to calm the hell down right now." Billie says in a slight panic, "Wyatt, tell your friend to stand down. This isn't necessary."

"Only if Laura doesn't stand in our way." Wyatt says.

"Over my dead body." Laura counters.

"Oh, that can be arranged." Bianca says as she throws the energy ball in their direction causing Billie and Laura to leap out of the way and fall onto the ground. The energy ball hits the couch behind them, causing a giant hole and leaving a scorch mark with little bits of cotton and fabric flying everywhere.

"What was that about finding a better way again?" Laura says angrily through gritted teeth.

"This is not the time for ' _I told you so's'_ " Billie snaps back, "What do we do?"

"I don't know but we can't let them leave." Laura suggests.

"Uh, I don't know if we are in the position to do that." Billie says, "They have the upper hand."

"I'll be damned if I let prepubescent brats force me into submission." Laura says as she stands up and Billie stands with her.

"I got this." Billie says as she walks a little closer to Chris and Wyatt, "You guys do not want to do this."

"We don't." Chris says as he holds up his palm, "But we will do what we have to if you get in our way."

Chris's fist begins to turn into a blue and white color with ice fog leaking from his knuckles.

"Uh, since when did you have any type of ice powers?" Billie asks aloud.

"Don't worry about it." Chris says as he opens his palm and shoots shards of ice towards the two witches standing across from him. Billie raises her arms and magically deflects the ice shards into the walls next to her.

"Ok. No more being Miss Nice witch." Billie says as she rolls up her sleeves as she waves her hands towards the group. A wave of energy emanates from her hands and sweeps the attic, hitting Bianca and Chris but Wyatt's shield rises up and protects him individually.

Wyatt looks over his shoulder and sees Chris and Bianca are knocked unconscious. Fury flashes in his eyes as he balls up his fists in anger. He opens his palm and shoots electricity from the center, which strikes Laura in the chest and sends her flying. She is slammed against the wall and falls face first into the ground, motionless.

"And then there was one." Wyatt says with a smile as he paces slowly towards Billie.

"Wyatt, I don't want to hurt you." Billie says as she backs away as Wyatt approaches.

"Are you sure that you can?" Wyatt asks in a cocky tone.

"Piper won't forgive me if I attack you again." Billie says softly.

"Again? When did you attack me before?" Wyatt asks in a confused tone, as he is obviously completely taken aback by Billie's comment.

"Uh…" Billie stutters as a loud blast can be heard in the distance striking Wyatt. He groans in pain as he flies into the wall and falls to the ground, falling unconscious as well.

"What the hell?" Billie says looking around in confusion. Laura walks up to her, sounding out of breath as she smiles.

"You're ok?"

Laura nods her answer as she brushes a bang out of her eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Billie asks.

"Plan B." Laura says as she walks closer to an unconscious Wyatt and looks behind her to see Bianca and Chris lying on the ground side by side, clearly stunned.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Laura flips through the Book of Shadows with Billie standing behind her. Wyatt, Chris and Bianca sit in the center of the attic, surrounded by the enchanted crystals which held them prisoner. With every flip of the page, Laura looks up at the three teens as if they would be able to escape the cage the minute she averted her eyes for too long.

"You need to relax, Laura." Billie says as she takes a deep breath, "They aren't going anywhere."

"I'm not going to let my guard down when it comes to these three." Laura says adamantly, "Not again."

"How long do you think the crystals are going to hold them?" Billie asks.

"I don't care how long. As long as it holds them long enough until Piper, Phoebe and Paige come back."

"What exactly are you looking for?" Billie asks as she looks over Laura's shoulder in an attempt to answer her own question.

"More information on this Ark and the Ouroboros." Laura says desperately as she begins to flip through the pages even faster as if she would yield better results that way.

"Laura, there's no new information in there. We already know everything."

"Not everything." Laura says as she steps away from the Book and begins to think, "The Book said that we needed the power of a Taxiarch to track the Ark. Either that or use a map created specifically created to find it but we don't know where the map is."

Wyatt chuckles in the cage as he tries to mask his amusement by coughing.

Billie stares at Wyatt, Chris and Bianca as numerous thoughts run through her mind. She walks closer to them and squats before them, the invisible wall of the crystal cage vibrating between Billie and Wyatt, Chris and Bianca.

"Or maybe, they already found a way." Billie speculates.

"How?" Laura asks.

"The blade." Billie answers as she stands up, "The blade is imbued with Gambrel's powers. Alive or dead, his powers still work."

"So where's the blade?" Laura asks staring angrily at the teens sitting before her.

"We don't have it." Chris answers.

"Even if we had it, we wouldn't give it to you." Bianca adds.

"This one really got a smart mouth." Billie says, pointing to Bianca, "Don't you?"

Bianca flashes them a sly grin.

"Fine." Billie says as she takes a step backwards.

"What are you about to do?" Laura asks.

"I'm going to use my power to scan them to see if they have the blade anywhere on their person or in this room." Billie says as she closes her eyes.

"Can you really do that?" Laura asks in awe.

"Shhh…" Billie sounds off, trying to concentrate. A golden glow emanates from Billie and sweeps across the room. As the golden light fades, Billie's eyes open suddenly as she looks at Wyatt in shock and then looks at Laura.

"What? What is it?" Laura asks, "Did you find out where the blade is?"

"No…" Billie whispers as she kicks a crystal stone from its position. The cage glows for a second, accompanied with a quick humming sound before it deactivates, "I should've known."

"Known what, Billie?" Laura asks in confusion but Billie doesn't answer, "I'm trying to jump on your train of thought here."

" _What's real is fake and what's fake is real.  
Bring truth to light, I now reveal."_

As the smile on Bianca's face grew wider, Billie's suspicions were instantly confirmed when Bianca fades from sight in a faint blue hue.

"Wait a minute." Laura says as she walks closer to Billie, "What's going on?"

Chris winks at Billie and Laura and his image disappears in the same faint blue color. Wyatt smiles and finally disappears from sight as well.

"What the hell was that?" Laura asks as her anger begins to rise. Her voice was calm but the anger was scattered through her words as she runs her fingers through her hair, trying to comprehend what had just happened.

"That wasn't them." Billie says softly.

"What do you mean ' _that wasn't them?_ '"

"They were projections. Illusion projections." Billie concludes as she begins to pace back and forth.

"How were they able to do that?" Laura asks, "Is that one of Wyatt's powers?"

"No, it wasn't…" Billie says as she folds her arms.

"Ok, I'm confused."

"That was just a distraction. The illusions were conjured by someone close by. Look at the powers they used against us." Billie says as she walks towards the basin that sat on top of the table. She grabs a few ingredients and tosses them into the basin, grabs yarrow root and a branch of Cyprus and tosses it into the bowl.

"Wyatt shot a bolt of electricity at you that would've killed anyone but all it did was stun you. Chris shot ice shards from his hands, a power he doesn't have."

As she grinds the ingredients together, she looks at Laura and asks, "And who do we know has the power to create illusions? Who do we know has the power to manipulate ice?"

As Laura tries to figure it out, Billie tosses the last ingredient in to the bowl and a minor explosion releases a smoke white cloud into the air.

" _Powers of the witches rise  
Course unseen across the skies.  
Come to us who call you near.  
Come to us and settle here."_

As she finishes her chant, the golden swirls materialize before them and the children appear before them. Looking nervous, Gabby, Penny, Paisley, Paris and Henry Jr. stood in a line staring at each other and then looks at Billie and Laura.

"Voilà!" Billie says as she folds her arms, staring at the Charmed children, "You've got a lot of explaining to do."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"We don't know what you're talking about?" Paris says in her defense.

"The projection of Wyatt and Chris in the attic. I know it was you guys." Billie says.

"If you think it was us, what is your proof?" Penelope says in a sassy tone.

"Don't try that right now, missy!" Billie scolds as she begins to pace up and down the line, "Henry Jr., you have the power to conjure illusions. Gabrielle, you can manipulate ice and with the power of a telepath, you can channel all the powers into one…which is what you all did. Don't try lying."

"We're not lying!" Paisley pleads, "We don't know what you're talking about."

"The spell wouldn't have worked if you guys were not involved, but here you are." Billie says.

After a brief silence, the children's solidarity proved strong in the face of adversity. Laura felt like she had no other choice but to try a different approach.

"Well, let me let you guys in on a little secret." Laura walks towards the Book of Shadows and begins to flip through the pages, "I don't know if you know, but there's a nifty little spell in here called 'The Truth Spell'. All we got to do is say a few words and you guys will have no choice but to tell us everything, either that or we wait until your parents come back. So I ask again, do you want to tell us what you know or do we have to make sure we find out by way of spell?"

" _Stay strong…"_ Paisley says to her cousins telepathically, " _We can't let them stop Wyatt."_

Billie looks at the children and sees the fear lingering in their eyes. She couldn't decipher if it was fear of getting caught, fear of dealing with the consequences that came with tattling on their siblings or the fear of being threatened. Either way, Billie decides to reason with the young ones.

"You guys." Billie says in a softened tone, "Wyatt and Chris might be in trouble. If we don't try to help them, they can end up being hurt or worse. Remember when you guys went to go rescue Laylah? This is ten times worse. You guys will not be in trouble if you help us with that. What do you say?"

Silence fills the attic as Billie looks upon the faces of the children standing before her, hoping that her plea would elicit the concern that lay beneath their stubbornness.

"We used our powers to distract you guys, to give them a head start…" Gabby finally cracks.

"GABBY!" the rest of the cousins shout in disappointment.

"Way to go, sis…" Junior says in a disappointing tone.

"I am all about solidarity but if something happens to them again, I can't live with it." Gabby defends herself, "Last time we did this, Wyatt got hurt, and I got in trouble and got blamed. I'm not going to let this happen again."

"Good girl…" Laura says happily, "What do you know?"

"Not much. All I know is that they're going on the hunt for the Ark before Abaddon finds it first. They have a map and the blade to lead them there." Gabby spills as she sighs happily, "Whew! That felt good to get off my chest."

Laura spins and races back to the Book of Shadows and immediately begins to flip through the pages once more.

"Uh, Laura? What are you doing?" Billie asks as she runs to Laura, trying to see what she's looking for.

"Those three have a head start on us already. I have to stop them."

"Have to stop them? _Can_ you stop them?" Billie asks.

Laura pauses and takes a deep breath. She turns to Billie and exhales deeply, "I have to try. I know Abaddon is searching for the Ark too so if Abaddon and Wyatt meet; it's not going to end so well. I need Laylah."

Laura returns to the Book and begins to flip through the ancient pages, searching for a summoning spell for Laylah. She sighs happily when she finally lands on a page.

"Found it!" Laura says as she takes a deep breath as opens her mouth to chant the spell when golden swirls materialize before her, in the center of the attic and Laylah appears.

Looking around at first flabbergasted but her surprise quickly turned sour upon realizing where she was.

"How did you summon her without a spell?" Billie asks as she walks closer to Laylah in surprise.

"I didn't." Laura replies.

"I did." Junior cuts in, "I summoned her."

"How?" Laura asks.

"I don't know. I just sensed her and used my power to call her here." Junior explains.

"You people cannot leave me alone for a second?" Laylah sighs, "The sisters are not meant to be back for a few hours."

"You're not here because of the sisters." Laura explains, "You are here because we need you to help us stop Wyatt and Chris."

"Stop Wyatt and Chris? Stop them from doing what?" Laylah asks.

"They have discovered the Ark, which contains the Ouroboros. They're trying to get it before Abaddon does." Laura explains.

"The powers of the Taxiarch can help find the Ark because my brothers built it. But Gambrel's powers locked it so I don't think it would matter if he finds it or not." Laylah explains.

"Well, does the blade wielding your brother's powers count?" Billie asks.

"Having the blade doesn't do much if Gambrel himself doesn't activate it." Laylah says.

"I wouldn't put anything past Wyatt; I mean he is the twice blessed child who also happens to be the true wielder of Excalibur so…" Laura mumbles.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean?" Laylah asks.

"Yeah, the prophecy of the twice blessed child is Wyatt. And Piper has the sword, Excalibur in storage for Wyatt." Billie explains.

"Oh my God." Laylah whispers.

"What? What is it?" Laura asks.

"The only two people who can open the ark holding the Ouroboros are Gambrel himself and the Arcturus." Laylah explains.

"We are aware of that." Billie says, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Arcturus is the brightest star in the constellation next to Ursa Major." Gabrielle answers. All eyes snap towards her in surprise.

"What?" Gabby shrugs, "Chris is not the only one in the family who reads a lot."

"Still doesn't answer the question though…" Billie says out of frustration.

"Arcturus is the name given to the protector of the Ark. The last person who was known as the Arcturus was also the last person who was known as the true owner of Excalibur."

"King Arthur?" Billie gasps.

"Mhm." Laylah nods, "The power of Arcturus lies within the sword so only the true owner can access it…"

Billie's mouth drops opens as she whispers, "Which means…"

"Which means Wyatt can find and open the Ark." Laura finishes Billie's sentence as she turns towards Billie.

"Wait a minute; did you say that you can use your powers to track the Ark?" Penny asks.

"Yeah, all of us know where it is but we do not have access to it." Laylah answers, "Why?"

"If you know where it is, that means Abaddon knows where it is too." Penny replies.

"We got to find Wyatt before it's too late." Laura says.

"What if it's too late?" Billie asks.

"It's not." Paisley's innocent voice can be heard in the distance chiming in. All eyes in the room shift towards Paisley as she walks towards the couch in the attic and sits down.

"How do you know?" Laura asks.

"I just had a vision." She says in a non chalant tone.

"Do you know where they are exactly?" Laylah asks with a hint of hope in her voice.

Paisley stares off into the distance as her eyes begin to glow in a cloudy pink color.

"Is that normal?" Penny asks Paris as they watch Paisley caught in a trance.

"That's how she has her visions." Paris answers, "It's normal…for her."

"I don't know where they are at the moment…" Paisley says as her eyes continue to glow, "But they are heading towards the Asphodel Meadows part of the underworld."

"Asphodel Meadows?" Laura repeats as she flips the pages of the Book even faster, "I think I have seen that name in the Book before."

"That's where the Ark is hidden." Laylah explains.

Paisley's eyes turn back into their regular color and she begins to blink rapidly.

"Whew! That hasn't happened in a while." She sighs.

Junior walks towards Paisley and with a gentle tap on her shoulder, he whispers "That was so cool."

Paisley's smile widens listening to the compliment paid to her by her older cousin, "Thank you."

"Ha! Found it!" Laura exclaims as she continues to read, " _Asphodel Meadows is one of the six regions of the Underworld. It is the only part of the underworld where all forms of good and magical beings dare not pass. The Acheron river flows at the entrance of this region of the underworld and anyone who chooses to enter the meadows must make a painful sacrificial offering which will render the visitor weak in order to pass through._ "

"Doesn't really sound like something you should want to do." Billie says after Laura stops reading.

"I don't really have a choice, Billie." Laura says as she grabs a few vials of potions and stuff them in a satchel. She swings the satchel over her head and looks at Billie.

"Let me come with you, at least." Billie offers.

"No, you have to stay here and watch the kids. I've got Laylah." Laura says.

"But Laylah's powers are still a little wonky…" Billie says.

"A little wonky is better than no powers at all." Laylah says as she stands next to Laura, "This will have to do for now."

Billie nods with a half crooked smile as Laura tosses a potion at her feet and disappears in a cloud of smoke.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Are we there yet?" asks Tricia, panting. The quintet had been walking for more than two hours and it felt longer than that. Chris religiously looked at his watch every five minutes as if time would move faster every time he laid his eyes on his wrist. Wyatt's mind raced as he led his siblings and Bianca through the darkest pits of the underworld, with golden orbs hovering over their heads and the green glow of the blade illuminating their path.

The ground was surprisingly smooth underneath their shoes; the light of the golden orbs drew their long shadows against the rocky walls beside them. Wyatt, Chris, Mellie and Tricia had never cruised the underworld before and despite all of their training, they never expected this journey to be as long as it was talking them. The map Wyatt navigated kept changing to adjust to their new position, thereby creating confusion among the group.

"I could've sworn we walked by this place before." Chris mumbles.

"Ok, your commentary is not warranted nor needed, Christopher so hush!" Wyatt snaps.

"Easy, guys." Bianca says as she tries to maintain the peace.

"Do you think Billie and Laura have caught onto the illusion already?" Mellie ponders.

"I wouldn't put it past them. I'm more surprised they haven't caught up to us because we keep going around in circles." Chris says sardonically.

Wyatt stops and turns around angrily as he charges towards Chris, "You know what? I…"

"Hold up!" Bianca says as she jumps between Wyatt and Chris. Mellie tugs on Wyatt's shirt in an effort to hold him back but fails miserably.

"Look, why don't you let me take the map and navigate for a while, okay?" Bianca asks.

Wyatt begins to speak when Bianca cuts him off, "This is not a testament to your navigating skills; I think I need you need a break from all of this pressure."

Mellie and Tricia watch nervously as the tension between the brothers refuse to fade. Wyatt hands the map and blade to Bianca as he steps back.

"Come with me, Chris." Bianca whispers as Chris' eyes remain locked with Wyatt's.

"Chris?" Bianca calls again but no response, "Christopher!"

Chris looks down at Bianca, his hardened look weakening as soon as his eyes meet hers.

"Come on." Bianca whispers as she takes the lead and Chris reluctantly follows.

"Hey…" Mellie whispers to Wyatt, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Wyatt answers dryly.

"Just making sure." Mellie says.

"Why do you say that?" Wyatt asks.

"You seem different, like more on edge." Mellie answers.

"Like frustrated…" Tricia adds, "More than usual."

"Well, walking in search of the ark for two hours will get any one on edge." Wyatt says defensively.

"I'm pretty sure that's it." Tricia says sarcastically.

"Let's just get this over with." Wyatt says as he begins to follow the pair ahead of him. Mellie glances over at Tricia, who gives Mellie a shrug joins Wyatt.

Walking ahead of Mellie, Tricia and Wyatt, Chris looks over to Bianca as she tries to decipher the interchangeable map.

"Are you okay?" Bianca asks.

"I'm fine. Wyatt's the one who is acting crazy." Chris answers.

"I'm pretty sure it's the stress that's getting to him."

"Stress of what?!" Chris says loudly which is quickly followed by Bianca's shushing him, "We all share equal responsibility in this. We all decided we were in this together. There's no reason why he should feel any pressure because this is not his burden to bear."

"Ok…" Bianca says, "You're right."

"Something is changing in him." Chris says, "He's not acting like himself and I don't know why."

"Well, this mission has every one on edge, given the stakes." Bianca says, "The sooner we accomplish it, the better off we will all be."

Chris sighs heavily as he runs his fingers through his hair, "I hope you're right."

"I'm always right." Bianca says with a smile.

"If you're always right, riddle me this." Chris says, "The Book said that in order to gain entrance into the Meadows, we have to make a painful offering that will render us weak. How are we going to do that?"

"We just have to cut our palms and use our blood." Bianca answers, "The pain alone is weakening to the human body."

"Right, of course that's it…" Chris says doubtfully as he groans loudly.

"I hate seeing you like this." Bianca says with a frown, "You owe me a date after this."

Chris chuckles loudly but then lowers his voice, "You think so?"

"I know so."

"What do you have in mind?" Chris asks.

"Well, surprise me." Bianca answers with a smile.

"I…" Chris begins to say but a glimpse over his shoulder brings him back to his senses, "You know we can't…"

Bianca sighs heavily as she guesses accurately, "Wyatt…"

"Yup."

"Why don't you tell him the truth?" Bianca asks, "He'll be mad at you for a little while but seeing his brother happy will bring him around."

"Nope. Don't think so. I know my brother." Chris says, "I don't think that's how it's going to go down."

"The truth still makes everything better." Bianca says, "We will never know true happiness unless the truth comes out. If he loves you, he'd understand."

"Sure." Chris says, "We can test that theory when this is all over."

Releasing a deep sigh, Tricia groans as she deliberately shouts, "This sucks!"

"No one asked you to join us so suck it up!" Chris shouts back.

Mellie grabs Tricia's arm and pulls her closer, "Will you stop it? You're being a pain the bum right now!"

Tricia laughs as she manages to spit out, "Bum? What are you, British?"

"Chris is right. We are on this journey because we wanted to so we do not have the right to complain." Mellie says.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Tricia says with a change of attitude and voice. She glances over to Chris and Bianca and looks at Wyatt, "So, what's the deal with her?"

"Who? Bianca?" Wyatt asks.

"Yeah. Like who is she?" Tricia asks, "You guys never explained."

"She helped us save Dom from turning into a vampire a few weeks ago." Wyatt says with a hidden hint of admiration in his tone.

"You sound like you like this Bianca girl." Mellie teases.

"Shut up." Wyatt says dismissively.

"You like her, don't you?" Mellie asks, "It's okay. She's pretty, smart and kicks ass."

"Mind your business, Mellie." Wyatt says trying to deflect the subject.

"You do. I can tell…" Tricia says, "Too bad she doesn't feel the same about you."

"I know…" Wyatt says subconsciously, "I just got to woo her and all will be right with the world."

"It's too late for that." Tricia says, "Her heart belongs to another."

"What do you mean?" Mellie asks.

"She's already in love." Tricia says.

"In love? With who?" Wyatt asks.

Tricia's eyes dart towards Chris and then back to Wyatt. Wyatt stops in his tracks as his skin turned paler than it already was and his throat ran dry. A wave of heat flashed through his body as he tried to force the dry lump in his throat to go down.

"No, you're wrong." Wyatt says in denial.

"Are you sure?" Mellie asks, "How do you know that?"

"I'm the offspring of a Cupid and an empath." Tricia says, "It's a natural sense for me and my sisters to sense when someone is in love or not. She loves Chris and Chris loves her back."

Tricia could see Wyatt's heart shatter into a million pieces by staring into his blue eyes. The golden swirls that hovered above them all began to flicker. His breathing rhythm began to quicken as he watches Bianca and Chris in the distance. Chris and Bianca stop in their tracks as they examine the map together. Numerous images begin to flash through his mind, connecting the dots between the two about the two, where he had chosen to remain blissfully ignorant. Wyatt could hear the rush of blood pumping through his body like a rapid.

"I think we're here!" Bianca shouts with glee.

"How do you know?" Tricia asks.

"The river. That's the Acheron." Bianca says, "We just have to gain entrance into the Meadows."

Mellie and Tricia walk up to Bianca and Chris with Wyatt. Wyatt's veins popped out of his neck and the sweat began to form little beads on his forehead. His knuckles began to turn white from clenching his fist too hard. He gritted his teeth from effort to remain silent; his hunched form exuded an animosity that was like acid - burning, slicing, and potent. His face was red with suppressed rage, and when Tricia walked over to Wyatt to even set a finger on his shoulder, he swung around and mentally snapped.

"I need to know this and please do not beat around the bush because that will make things worse for you." Wyatt began his rambling.

"What are you bitching about now?" Chris asks as he rolls his eyes.

"What's going on between you two?" Wyatt asks.

"What are you talking about?" Bianca asks, "Nothing is going on."

"Please do not insult my intelligence." Wyatt begins to yell, "The very least you can do is tell me the truth. You owe me that."

"Wyat..." Chris begins to talk but Wyatt waves his hand and Chris flies into the rocky boulder behind him and falls to the ground.

"Chris!" Mellie screams as she runs to her brother and tries to help him up.

"Tell me the truth!" Wyatt bellows, "Are you in love with him?"

"Wyatt, I…" Bianca begins but pauses. Her eyes begin to well up with tears as she looks back at Chris. Chris stands up, looks at Bianca and then at Wyatt, exchanging the look that answered all of Wyatt's questions.

"I can't believe this." Wyatt whispers as he steps backwards, "Betrayed by my own brother."

"Wyatt, let me explain…" Chris begins to talk but Wyatt clenches his fist, causing Chris' throat to constrict. His airway began to close as Chris began to feel lightheaded. He fell to his knees with his hands wrapped around his throat as he began to gasp for air but the air never came. Flurries of bright lights begin to flood his vision and then darkness began to flicker. Bianca rushes to Chris and tries to help him but to no avail.

"Wyatt!" Mellie screams, "Wyatt, stop it!"

All of Mellie's pleas fell on deaf ears as Wyatt stood tall, fist clenched with darkness lingering in his blue eyes, a look that was not familiar to his sister and brother. A strong magnetic pull grabs him and in an instant, Wyatt finds himself light on his feet, flying across until the concrete wall of the underworld stops him in mid-air, crashing and sliding down until he was faced down in the gravel. Chris begins to cough and gasp as Bianca places his head on her lap, stroking his brown hair and kissing him all over his face in relief.

Mellie stares at Tricia who has her left arm stretched out. Tricia lowers her arm and utters, "I'm sorry but I had to."

"You didn't have to throw him so hard." Mellie says.

"Well, what choice did he give me? He almost killed Chris."

Mellie runs to Wyatt and helps him stand up, "What the hell was that?"

"I'm sorry." Wyatt mumbles to Mellie as he rubs the back of his head and groans, "I don't know what came over me."

"You need to get yourself together. You almost killed Chris." Mellie scolds him in a tone very reminiscent of their mother.

"Yeah well, he's lucky that Tricia was here to save him otherwise…"

"You don't mean that, Wyatt." Mellie says in disbelief, "Do you?"

Wyatt stares angrily in the direction of Chris and Bianca in anger without saying a word.

"Can we complete this thing before you guys decide to kill each other?" Tricia shouts, "We have work to do for God's sake."

"Let's get this over with." Wyatt says as he walks closer to Tricia.

"Wyatt…" Chris says as he walks closer to his brother in an effort to make his pleas known and heard but Wyatt raises his hand.

"Stay away from me." Wyatt says softly, "I don't want anything to do with you anymore."

"Ok then. So how do we gain entrance to the Meadows?" Tricia asks.

"Painful offering…" Bianca says as she takes the blade of Gambrel and slices her palm open. She forms a fist and squeezes hard, causing her blood to drip into the river.

" _Soil the earth and raise the tide, reveal to us what lays inside._ " Bianca chants softly as the river begins to bubble, boil and sizzle with every drop of the crimson colored claret oozing from her closed fist. She backs away, awaiting for whatever magical moment to occur so they can finally see where the next step to their long mission was going to take them.

Everyone stared with great trepidation; anxiety coursing through their veins as the excitement can be seen in their eyes. And just like that, the river stopped bubbling and the steam that rose from it disappeared from sight.

"What happened? Why didn't it work?" Tricia asks.

"It called for a painful offering that rendered us weak…" Bianca says as she looks at her sliced palm, "Maybe it needs more blood?"

"What do you mean?" Mellie asks.

"Maybe I need to slice my wrist instead. That accounts for the pain and the weakness…" Bianca suggests.

"No…" Wyatt says weakly as he raises his hand and orbs the blade from Bianca's grasp and into his own, "You're right about one thing; we do need more blood but that's not what the pain the Book was talking about."

Wyatt steps closer to the edge of the river and drags the edge of the blade across his right wrist. Mellie gasps softly, watching her brother cut himself. As Wyatt's blood drops into the river, the river begins to bubble and sizzle.

"Soil the earth and raise the tide, reveal to us what lays inside." Wyatt chants as a golden light rises from the depths of the waters and creates a whirlpool like opening in the middle of the river.

"It worked!" Bianca exclaims.

"Now what?" Tricia asks.

"We jump." Wyatt says as he takes a few steps back and runs towards the river. He leaps into the center and disappears.

"Here goes nothing!" Bianca says afterwards as she runs and jumps into the river as well. Chris follows suit and jumps into the river.

"Are you ready?" Mellie asks Tricia as she ties her hair into a ponytail. She looks to her right and sees a frozen Tricia, whose eyes were fixated on the rushing waters flowing downward to nowhere.

"Trish…you okay?" Mellie asks.

"Um, I don't really do water." Tricia says dryly.

"What do you mean 'you don't do water'?" Mellie asks, "Are you afraid to swim?"

"Not so much as afraid…" Tricia stutters, "More like deathly terrified."

"Why?" Mellie asks.

"That's a story for another time." Tricia says.

"Look, we are not swimming. We're just crossing over to another realm basically. I got you." Mellie says as she offers her hand for Tricia to hold. Tricia swallows a big lump and looks down at Mellie's hand. Mellie gives Tricia a reassuring smile as Tricia grabs her hand and holds it tight.

"On three?" Mellie says.

"One…."

"Two…"

"Three!" they both scream as they run and leap into the whirlpool as the golden light flickers and disappear from sight.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Screams echoing in pitch darkness ends in a thud and a loud groan. All of a sudden, flaming torches that were perfectly aligned along the walls sparked to life, lighting up the cave and bathing the entire cavern in a flickering orange glow. As the cave came into view, the magical entrance in the ceiling grew smaller and smaller till Mellie and Tricia fell through and landed on the gravel and soft rocks, breaking their fall as the entrance from which they came disappeared.

The crew stood up and took a moment to get used to look around their new surroundings. The cave was built into the muddy brown rock of the cliff. Small, loose stones littered the floor causing a crunch sound with every single step they took.

"Are you guys okay?" Chris calls to Mellie and Tricia, who nod their answer while wiping off the dirt and debris that clung to their clothes. Chris looks to Wyatt and opens his mouth to ask him the same question but figured it was best at this point to keep his mouth shut. Thankfully, Mellie asked the question for him.

"You good, Wyatt?"

"Yeah. I'll be okay." Wyatt answers as he looks around.

"You know, with a name called the 'Meadow', it doesn't really look _meadowy_ …" Tricia says as she looks around.

"Now that we are here, now what?" Chris asks as Bianca takes out the map and waits for the map to readjust their position.

"What are we waiting for?" Tricia asks.

"Waiting for the map to show us where to go." Bianca says as she stares at the map.

"Uh, guys?" Wyatt calls to them as the blade in his begins to flicker again.

"What's going on?" Wyatt asks.

"The blade will begin to light up as we get closer to the Ark and seeing as how we are in the place where it's hidden…" Bianca explains.

"We just have to know where to go." Chris says.

"I think I may have an idea." Wyatt says as he begins towards the corridor which lay beyond the circular cave. The rest of the crew begins to follow him.

"How do you know where to go?" Tricia asks.

"I don't know. I can't explain it." Wyatt says, "I feel like a pull. Like I know where to go."

"Yeah, like that is not strange at all." Tricia says sarcastically.

Wyatt travels down the corridor with his family and Bianca following him blindly. The tunnel was like a snake skin turned inside out, slinking into the abyss of the darkness. The cave embodied the term "underworld" in every sense of the word. Wyatt could feel his mood shifting, his anger dissipating and sadness rising. The more time he spent down there, the more he began to realize why demons loved to dwell in a miserable place as this. There was no type of light that shone within, minus the flames that lit their path to wherever they were headed. The lights flickered, casting an ominous glow throughout the tunnel, causing shivers to ripple across his body.

Chris dragged his hand across the wall, picking up dust and grime. Cold wind streamed through the tunnel, clutching the layer of sand and dust that lay on top of the surfaces, twirling them in the air, only to drop them off into the void. All sign of life had vanished from the tunnels that looked like it had promise. Despite the light of the torches that surrounded them all, the cave and tunnel created a feeling of abandonment and Wyatt pondered if it was due to his recent discovery of his brother and Bianca's betrayal or a symptom of being in the depths of the underworld.

As they kept walking, the bright emerald color of the blade grew stronger and throbbed as they went deeper and deeper into the cave. Wyatt stopped abruptly as the light shone so bright, not even Wyatt could stare directly at the dagger.

"What happened?" Bianca asks, "Why did you stop?"

"It's around here somewhere." Wyatt says looking around.

"How do you know?" Chris asks.

"I can feel it." Wyatt says as he steps forward and closes his eyes. He stretches out his hand; palms open as he begins to scan the place telekinetically. His eyes open abruptly as he walks towards the wall opposite of him. He gently taps on a giant cracked, jagged, misshapen rock with the blade in a weird rhythm, twice above, once below, once on the left side and thrice on the right. The rock gently slides out of the way, revealing a tomb like room filled with pebbles and rocks and a brown chest sitting in the center.

As Wyatt enters the room, he approaches the chest gently as Mellie, Tricia, Chris and Bianca walk alongside him. Wyatt walks closer to the chest as the bright green light stops glowing.

"This is it." Wyatt whispers, "This is the Ark."

"That's it?!" Tricia says, not even making an attempt to hide her disappointment, "I thought it was a golden treasure chest or something."

"Well now what?" Mellie asks.

"We open it." Bianca suggests.

"Uh, no. We don't." Chris counters.

"Why not?" Bianca asks.

"The whole point of us coming on this mission is to prevent Abaddon from taking this and using the Ouroboros for God knows what." Chris explains, "We do not need to open it. If anything, we can bring it back to the Manor and give it to Laura."

"No. Absolutely not!" Bianca says, "We didn't come all this way for us to just give up the chest."

"What are you going to do with the chest then, hmmm?" Chris asks as he folds his arms awaiting an answer, leaving Bianca speechless.

"Ok then, it's settled." Chris says, "Let's get this out of here and go home."

"Uh guys? Quick question." Tricia says, "Doesn't all of this seem too easy to you?"

"What do you mean?" Mellie asks.

"I mean this is the freaking Ark of the Covenant. The most desirable thing in the world and most likely the most powerful thing in the world and we came here with no booby traps, no demons to attack us or any obstacles to make this harder than it is?"

"This isn't Indiana Jones, Trisha." Mellie says.

"I don't know…" Tricia says, "I'm just saying. I don't have a good feeling about this."

"I still think we should open it…" Bianca suggests.

"No!" Chris objects as he steps closer to Bianca, "If whatever was inside was a good thing, it wouldn't be hidden in the depths of the underworld, would it?"

"I agree…" Mellie chimes in, "We should just take it back and let our parents decide."

"The whole reason why we did this is so that we can do this without our parents interfering. Are you telling me that this was for nothing?" Bianca asks.

"No. We got it before Abaddon did, that was the mission…" Chris answers.

"I say we put it to a vote…" Mellie suggests, "I mean democracy never fails, right?"

"Have you seen our current president? Guess again." Tricia retorts as she rolls her eyes.

"Ok, I can't believe this is even up for discussion." Chris says, "We are not doing this. End of story."

"Who died and made you the leader?" Bianca asks as her tone begins to shift from calm to agitated.

"Apparently I am, since I am the only one left with common sense." Chris says.

"Ok, wait a minute…" Mellie says as Tricia, Bianca and Chris become tangled in a heated argument, their voices overlapping one another.

Standing outside the huddled group was Wyatt, who seemed caught in a trance. His eyes remained fixated on the chest that sat before him as the emerald colored blade pulsated with its bright glow. He pondered if he should give in to the call as he looked over his shoulder and saw his siblings and Bianca arguing. Their voices rose above the sacred silence. A glance, touch, and one small comment stirred a hurricane of harsh and horsed insults. With every word that flew out of their mouths seemed harsher than the last, casting each word full speed ahead to shatter our souls into a million pieces.

Wyatt looked back towards the chest and took a deep breath. The urge was stronger than ever and as he closed his eyes for a brief moment, he gave into the desire he had tried so hard to escape this entire time. He took a step forward as he climbed the tiny mount the stones formed and with no hesitation, inserted the blade into the key hole crafted into the center of the chest. The keyhole morphed and molded to the dagger as the dagger turned perpendicular and a loud click sounded the air simultaneously.

"WYATT! NOOOOOOOOO" a loud voice can be heard cutting through the overlapping voices of the group behind him. As Wyatt turned around to see where the voice came from, the lid of the chest swung open and a bright green light burst through and swept through the entire cave, knocking every one present off their feet and landing on their backs.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

BONG!

As the grandfather's clock in the Halliwell Manor chimes five times, Billie stands in the sunroom, staring out of the window with her arms folded. Laura had been gone for three hours and the children have been gone for a little bit longer. Piper, Phoebe and Paige were due to arrive from the past any minute now and yet, Billie felt the worst was yet to come.

"Billie?" Gabrielle calls to her from the distance.

Billie snaps out of her train of thought and turns around, "Yes, honey?"

"The kids have finally fallen asleep." She says, "Is there anything I can do?"

Billie smiles as she nods her head, "No, Gabby. Thank you for helping me with that."

"No problem." Gabby says.

"You know, you're a kid too." Billie says softly, "You need to act like it instead of being feeling responsible for everyone. It becomes a burden if you allow it to go on. You have the rest of your life to be grown up. You don't have to live like this."

"I know." Gabrielle says innocently, "I like feeling responsible for my brother and sister. It's not a burden. It's a blessing in my eyes…"

"You are wise beyond your years, Gabby." Billie smiles proudly, "Don't change."

"I don't plan to." Gabby smiles.

"Thanks for earlier…" Billie adds as Gabby's face looks at Billie in confusion, "You know, for coming clean about Wyatt and Chris and the illusions."

"No problem." Gabby says, "I just wish I had known it made a differe-"

A bright green light sweeps through the Manor, knocking Billie and Gabby to the floor as the Manor begins to shake loudly and violently. The chandelier swung violently from the ceiling. The church stained windows cracked and shattered and cracks appeared from the ground beneath. The ground shook up and down, as if the entire place suddenly fell from the sky and struck the earth with mighty impact. A few meteors raced across the sky and crash landed onto the middle of the street, sending smoldering rocks and flames all over the place.

Billie and Gabby scrambled up to their feet but most immediately lost balance and were reduced to crawling as they crept towards the dining room and sought shelter underneath the dining room table. Lights fell from the ceiling; portraits that hung on the walls slid off and shattered on the ground, the shelves and bookcases toppled over and the grandfather's clock fell to the ground and the vases that housed the potted plants shattered, spilling the soil all over the ground.

"What is going on?" Gabby yelled over the loud rumbling.

"I don't know!" Billie responds loudly as she holds on to Gabby underneath the table.

The rumblings cease immediately and silence filled the air temporarily. Screams can be heard in the distance as panic ensues nearby.

"Go check on the others to see if they're okay." Billie instructs. Gabby nods and runs up towards the banister as Billie runs towards the front door and opens it. She steps out and her eyes widen as her eyes scope out the neighborhood. The Earth had split in two, neighboring houses had collapsed upon themselves and sinkholes housed the cars parked on Prescott Street.

"Oh my God." Billie gasps as she scanned the horrible scene before her.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

A cloud of dust hovered in the air, accompanied by a choking smell and ringing in the ears. As Wyatt came to, the ringing seemed to subside and the painful groans from his brother and sister became louder and clearer. He looks to his left to see Tricia lying on her stomach, bleeding from her head and unconscious. Wyatt scrambles to his little cousin and tries to shake her awake.

"Tricia?" Wyatt says as he lifts up Tricia and places her head on his lap. He places his index and middle finger along her carotid artery in an effort to hear a pulse.

"Is she okay?" Mellie asks as she squats beside Wyatt, with worry and fear in her eyes. She places her fingers under Tricia's nostrils and her worry exacerbates in an instant, "She's not breathing, Wyatt!"

"Please, please…" Wyatt pleads as he closes his eyes trying to detect a pulse.

Wyatt's eyes open suddenly as his hands begin to emit a golden glow, a touch so warm and bright, his panic quickly shifted to relief. He hovers his hand over Tricia's chest as his healing touch warms up her body and her chest begins to rise and fall rhythmically. Tricia gasps as her eyes open and the open wound leaking blood across her forehead disappears. She coughs as she sits up.

"Oh my God!" Mellie exclaims with glee as she throws her arms around her cousin and hugs her tightly, "You're okay! You're alive."

"I won't be for long if you keep hugging me the way you do." Tricia says with a strain in her voice.

"Oh, sorry…" Mellie says as she stands up and chuckles through her tears.

"Wyatt?" a female voice can be heard in the distance. Wyatt, Mellie and Tricia turn around and see Laylah and Laura walking towards them, covered in dirt.

"Laura?" Chris says as he coughs.

"Wyatt, what did you do?" Laura asks. Laylah's eyes scan the cave and her eyes fall back onto Wyatt.

"I…" Wyatt begins to say but Laylah cuts him off.

"You opened the chest?!" Laylah says angrily.

Wyatt nods his head and stands up. He helps Mellie and Tricia stand up as well.

"We need to grab that chest and get the hell out of here." Laylah says in a panic as she rushes towards the chest.

"I'm afraid I can't let that happen." A male's voice can be heard saying. In a blink of an eye, Wyatt, Chris, Bianca, Mellie, Tricia, Laylah and Laura are sent flying through the air and are magically pinned against the rocky walls of the cave.

Abaddon materialized sporting long wavy jet black hair, slicked back and stopped a few inches above his shoulders. He had a medium stubble beard that complimented his square jaw. He stood tall in his tailored suit as Sebastian materialized beside him.

"Hello, dear sister." Abaddon says with his thick English accent, "Did you miss me?"

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Who is that?" Laura grunts as she tries to break free from the invisible bonds that bound her to the wall. The rest of the children attempted to do the same but failed miserably.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Abaddon smiles as he steps out of the shadows and into the orange light emanating from the torches in the cave, "Where are my manners? I'm Abaddon. I'm sure you've heard great things about me."

"Quite the opposite, actually." Laura spits back.

"Oh, Laura, is it?" Abaddon guesses as he approaches Laura, "Is that what you're going by nowadays?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Laura answers as she continues to struggle and grunt.

"Yeah, sure you don't. If I didn't have more pressing matters at hand, I'd be having fun picking your brain but I'll take a raincheck." Abaddon smiles as he steps to the side and stares at Wyatt.

"Mellie, Tricia, are you guys okay?" Wyatt asks as he appears to be resigned to his fate, not trying to break free from his bonds.

"Yeah, we're fine." Mellie answers, "You?"

"Yeah, I am."

Abaddon turns his attention to Wyatt and begins to clap loudly

"Lo and behold, we are blessed to be in the presence of the Twice blessed child, the wielder of Excalibur, the Arcturus of the Grand Design, the self-proclaimed King Midas." Abaddon taunts, "Your title is longer than Daenerys Targaryen, it's ridiculous."

"Leave him alone!" Laylah shouts angrily.

"Why? I have him to thank for everything." Abaddon says sarcastically, "Or maybe I should thank you for leading me to him by sending your little distress signal to them when you were my prisoner."

"I doubt it." Laylah scoffs.

"No, really." Abaddon says as he turns towards Laylah, "As you know, accessing the Ark proved difficult because Gambrel in his infinite wisdom decided to allow grant the accesses to himself and one person should he not be around to protect it and it worked….until you were broken out."

Abaddon begins to pace as he continues to narrate, "I knew I couldn't access the Ark and the only one who could access to it was the Arcturus, who was hidden in plain sight until the Charmed Ones came into my radar. Initially, I wanted to vanquish the witches because I feared they would foil my plans but after my trip down the Charmed memory lane by aid of Sebastian here, I realized that one of the witches gave birth to the answer to my problems. The next Arcturus also known as the wielder of Excalibur. The only thing left to do was get him away from the Charmed Ones and get him to do what I wanted to do without telling him what to do and I succeeded."

"What do you mean ' _you succeeded'_?" Laura asks.

"Where are the Charmed Ones right now?" Abaddon asks with a smirk.

"None of your business." Chris finally chimes in.

" _Au contraire._ " Abaddon retorts, "It's entirely my business. I sent a couple of warlocks into the past to slightly alter the past, not to do significant damage. Just long enough to get them out of my way to have Wyatt do what I needed to do."

Abaddon looks over his shoulder at Tricia, "I deactivated the spells and defensive charms that protected this place and called off my demons just so you guys can have a safe journey here. You were right, my little minx."

"You bastard." Laylah whispers with tears in her eyes, "What happened to you? What happened to the brother I loved? The brother who protected me when the first battle between good and evil?"

"Wish Gambrel was alive to answer that. He knows what happened." Abaddon says as his tone changes from his sardonic nature into a serious tone, which hinted the pain which lay beneath his words.

"Wait a minute…" Chris interjects, "What did you mean by ' _getting Wyatt to do what you needed to do_ '?"

Abaddon's familiar smile grows on his face as he stares at Chris and his eyes shift to Bianca, "Hello, darling…."

Chris stares at Bianca, trying to make sense of what he had just heard.

"Bianca, what is he talking about?" Chris says in a low tone.

"I don't know what he's talking about." Bianca says defensively.

"Now, now darling, tell the truth. Hell, your mother laid out the time travel plans to distract the witches, apparently from your future self." Abaddon smiles, "You think it's a coincidence she knew that you and your brother were witches? That she happened to be able to help save you guys from vampires? Why did she insist on training so much? It wasn't from the goodness of her heart. It was to lead you all to this."

"Bianca…" Chris says as his voice begins to break, "Please tell me that this isn't true."

"Every single bit of it is true." Abaddon asserts, "The part I didn't plan on was her falling for you or you falling for her. That part is just the icing on top of the cake."

"Bianca…" Chris whispers as tears form in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Chris." Bianca breaks down in tears, "I'm so sorry."

"If you were after Wyatt, why did you come for me? Why didn't you just stay with Wyatt and leave me out of this?"

"This is the best part…" Abaddon laughs as he quotes the prophecy, "' _Anyone who chooses to enter the meadows must make a painful sacrificial offering which will render the visitor weak in order to pass through._ ' What is more painful enough to make someone weak do you know of greater than heartbreak?"

"So this was all part of your plan? We were pieces in your plan?!" Wyatt shouts angrily.

"A plan that helped me and in turn, helped you as well, Wyatt." Abaddon says.

"What do you mean?" Wyatt asks.

"You know what you felt, Wyatt." Abaddon smiles as he steps closer to Wyatt, "All that power calling to you, flowing through your veins. And that's just a sliver of the absolute power you can possess. You just need to give into it in order to access it."

"No, I am perfectly fine the way I am with the powers I have already." Wyatt says defensively.

Abaddon laughs out loud, "You remind me of myself when I was your age. Fascinating."

"I'm not like you. You're evil. I will never be like you." Wyatt maintains as he looks into Abaddon's eyes.

"Oh Wyatt." Abaddon says as he grabs Wyatt's face. Wyatt struggles to look away but can't, "That has always been the problem we struggle with. As soon as you let that go, you'd realize that it is bigger than good versus evil. It's all about absolute power. You'll figure that out one day."

"My Lord…" Sebastian addresses, "It's time."

"Right!" Abaddon says as he steps back. He walks towards the Ark and picks up the big white orb encased in glass with a golden serpent around the circular object, biting its tail, "I have you to thank for this, Wyatt. Now, I can finish what I couldn't before."

"What you tried and failed before was take over the world with demons and that didn't work." Laylah screams.

"You're right but that's not what I'm trying to do now." Abaddon says. "Do you know what the Ouroboros signifies? The death and rebirth of life and I'm going to do just that. I'm going to destroy the world and remake it in my own vision. The Ouroboros is the key to bringing me that and it's all thanks to you, Wyatt. Thank you for breaking the first sigil."

"Sigil?" Laylah gasps in horror, "You don't mean…"

"Exactly, dear sister." Abaddon says, "Now, I think I have taken too much of your time so this is when I take my leave. I'm sure we'll meet up again very soon. I now bid you adieu."

Abaddon says as he waves his hand and disappears in a blinding light. Sebastian smiles and disappears in a dark red light. The cave begins to rumble as the entire group fall to the ground, apparently free from the bonds that held them up before.

"What do we do now?" Mellie asks as she begins to panic. Boulders fell from the ceiling and the ground moved and waved beneath their feet.

"We need to get out of here now." Laylah suggests, "Wyatt, can you orb?!"

Wyatt stares off into the distance, completely shell shocked and broken. He didn't blink, he didn't move and he just stood there, as the cave collapsed around him.

"Wyatt!" Laura calls out to him but he doesn't budge or acknowledge her.

"I'll have to teleport you guys out of here. Your powers won't work anymore down here anymore, now that the Ouroboros is no longer here. I'll teleport you guys back to the Manor." Laylah offers.

Bianca stands next to Chris and places her hand on his shoulder, "Chris, I…"

"Don't touch me!" Chris says as he steps away from her, "I don't want anything to do with you anymore."

"I'm sorry." Bianca pleads, "Please…I love you."

"Let's go, Laylah." Chris says unaffectedly as he walks to his family.

Laylah waves her hand at Bianca as a bright light surrounds her and she disappears from sight. Laylah looks at Laura and then the children.

"The sisters should be back any second now. They must be informed immediately." Laylah says.

Laura nods as she grabs Mellie and Tricia's hands. With a wave of her hand, a blinding white light fills the cave and everyone disappears from sight.

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Chaos had swept through the Halliwell Manor as debris fell from the walls, ceilings and the like whenever the ground tremored underneath. Billie paces back and forth nervously awaiting for word on either the Charmed ones or Laura in order to ease her nerves, but she knew that no matter which one came first, good news was not going to accompany either one of them.

Wyatt, Chris, Mellie, Tricia and Laura appear in the center of the living room, amidst the falling debris and the chaos that surrounded them.

"Oh, my God." Mellie looks around, "What happened here?"

"You tell me!" Billie spouts angrily, "Why do I get the feeling that you guys had something to do with this."

"Hey, in all fairness, it wasn't us, per se. More like Wyatt…" Tricia says but Mellie shoots her an angry scowl, "What? It is…"

"Laura?" Billie says with desperation in her voice, "What are they talking about?"

"Abaddon was behind it all. He sent the sisters on a wild goose chase into the past just so he can lure Wyatt to open the Ark for him to take the Ouroboros." Laura explains.

"Did he succeed?" Billie asks.

"Look around and tell me what you think." Laura answers.

"What do we do now?" Billie asks.

"I don't know why you keep throwing this ' _we'_ word around like we broke the sigil or whatever." Tricia says.

"No one asked you to come with us." Chris argues. "Matter of fact, you guys insisted when I objected."

"Way to make yourself look like the innocent one, Chris." Mellie argues back, "You were involved in this as much as we were."

The ground shakes and everyone in the room scrambles to hold onto something solid until the tremors die down. A brief silence followed after the last tremor until the children began to quarrel amongst each other. Billie runs her fingers through her hair and bites her lip nervously. Piper, Phoebe and Paige appear into the living room, aghast at the sight of their ancient ancestral home. In an effort to gain their attention, Piper places two fingers in her mouth and lets out a loud whistle, which accomplishes the purpose she sought out to do: gain the attention and grant the silence she wanted.

"Can anyone tell me what the hell is going on?" Phoebe asks.

"You won't believe what your children just did." Billie says as she folds her arms.

"Children?" Tricia scoffs, "More like Wyatt."

"What do you mean?" Paige asks.

"All of this, the earthquake, the meteors, the sinkholes, everything." Laura says.

"Wyatt?!" Piper says as calmly as possible, "What did you do?"

"Mom…" Wyatt finally musters the strength to say as tears form and fall from his eyes, "I'm so sorry."

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As the city of San Francisco came out of the darkness of night, the brightness of the Sun on the horizon did nothing to show the beauty of the city as it usually did. Instead, it highlighted the severity of the casualties suffered the hours prior to sunrise. The entire city looked like a battle ground laid to waste. The usually neatly folded newspapers were scattered across the streets of the city, the cars were either blackened by the flames or flipped upside down by the disasters. The grass on the lawns were dead and the streets were filled with cracks and potholes. The Halliwell Manor didn't exude the peaceful aura it usually presented when the rays of the sun hit it. The ominous feeling could not be seen but the feeling sent shivers down the spine of those who walked up and down the stairs leading to the front door.

Within the Manor, the television can be heard announcing the chaos and the natural disasters that rocked the entire world. Phoebe shuts of the television with the remote and walks into the sunroom where Paige can be seen standing among the debris with the Book of Shadows in her hands. She looks around and chants:

" _Let the object of objection become but a dream  
As I cause the seen to be unseen…"_

White swirls and blue orbs fill the Manor as all the debris return to the ceiling. The chandelier orbs upwards and hangs freely above. The grandfather's clock is magically repaired and all the cracks and chaos is reversed instantaneously.

"Nice." Phoebe says as she walks into the room with a cup of coffee in her hand, "I have to say the Vanishing spell is your favorite spell."

"We have history together so I can admit to that." Paige says with a smile.

"Where's Piper?" Paige asks.

"Locked in her room." Phoebe answers, "I think she feels like this is her fault."

"No, it's not." Paige says.

"Well, tell her that." Phoebe says as she takes a sip of her coffee and looks around, "This place looks better now. Much better."

"I wish I could do the same thing for the entire city." Paige says with a sigh.

"The city? More like the entire world." Phoebe says as she takes a sip of coffee, "Japan was hit with a tsunami and submerged neighboring islands underwater. Moscow is buried in a tundra, same goes for Canada and most of New England. The world is falling apart out there."

"All because Wyatt opened a chest?" Paige says, "I don't get it."

"It is more than a chest." Laylah says as she walks into the sunroom and joins the ladies, "It is the chest the housed the secrets of the universe. The powers and weapons that could reset the world and life if need be."

"You mean like to destroy it entirely?" Paige asks.

"Exactly. That's the purpose of the apocalypse. It is meant to reset the universe in case of emergency, so to speak. We always came close with Pompeii, Vesuvius, and the World Wars 1 and 2. Those events were usually isolated to certain cities or countries in order to restart but this is different. Abaddon is trying to wipe the world clean and start over and create everything as if he is God himself." Laylah explains, "And with the Ouroboros in his possession, he can."

"Maybe we can stop him this time." Phoebe says, "We were able to stop the Source from unleashing the Four Horsemen to end the world before, we can do it again."

"You didn't stop the Source last time." Laylah says, "Just because you persuaded him doesn't mean you stopped him. He called it off. It's not the same. This time, a sigil has been broken by Wyatt and it is irreversible."

"What do you mean by ' _a sigil has been broken'_?" Paige asks.

"There are seven magical sigils that hold the grand design together. They are basically like the buttons and seams that keep a garment from unravelling. It takes a great evil or an evil doing to break a sigil. With every single sigil that breaks, time, space and everything the grand design holds together will fall apart and with that, the world as we know it will come to an end." Laylah explains.

"Great evil?" Phoebe questions, "Wyatt broke the sigil and he's not evil."

"He's not but Abaddon tempted the side of him that made him tap into it." Laylah explains, "We all have a little bit of evil inside us, the choice we make not do evil things and retain our conscience is what makes us good."

"So what are the other sigils so we can thwart Abaddon before he breaks the others?" Paige asks.

"The sigils are listed in the Ouroboros. Only Abaddon has those."

"So basically you're telling us that there's nothing we can do?" Paige asks.

"We will have to take whatever Abaddon dishes out and try to deal with it as it comes." Laylah says.

"I don't like this." Phoebe says, "I don't like feeling so helpless."

"Where do we go from here?" Paige asks.

"We have to prepare ourselves because believe it or not, Abaddon has begun the Dark War and we have to get ready to fight it with all that we've got or else we will lose everything and everyone we care about." Laylah explains.

Phoebe and Paige exchange a look of worry and concern and then look at Laylah. There was nothing else that could be said or done to ease their worries or quell their fears but this was it. They couldn't put their mind to it but they had a feeling that this battle was going to be different than the previous ones they had faced and they didn't know how to get ready for it. It would take everything they had to fight it and hopefully, they will come out victorious with no casualties this time. Hopefully…

FADE TO BLACK

END OF EPISODE

Guest Starring:

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Junior

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

Tiffani Thiessen as Laura

Kaley Cuoco as Billie

Isabela Moner as Bianca

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

Geoff Stults as Sebastian

Sarah Jane Morris as Laylah

And

Hal Ozsan as Abaddon


	22. 10x11: The Children Are Our Future (1)

**10x11: I Believe the Children Are Our Future (Part 1)**

A white and blue Victorian crafted house stood perched on the hill with wooden panels along the corridors, ornate chandeliers, and oil paintings of old bearded men in tunics and ruffs. Within the house, the stairs led down into a tall galleried room with a rug spread out over flagstones and a fireplace big enough to park a car in. A long polished wooden table had been set for three. A girl of 10 walked into her house with her parents directly behind her.

"Okay, like you promised, Missy. Upstairs, wash up and go to bed." Her mother instructs.

"But mom, it's the weekend. Can't I stay up a little while longer?" Missy pleads.

"Maybe tomorrow but it's late now." Her mother reiterates, "Don't make me ask you again."

Missy pouts as she turns to her father, who shakes his head with a smile, "You heard your mother."

"Ugh!" she groans as she spins around and stomps her way up the stairs.

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A few moments later, Missy emerges from the bathroom in her pajamas as she enters her bedroom. She closes her door and she shuts off the light, allowing the moonlight to shine through the gossamer curtains. She shudders as she crawls into her bed and gets underneath the covers. She closes her eyes as she sighs happily.

The floorboard creaked for a brief moment and her eyes shot open quickly. Her eyes searched around the dark room, trying to find out where the noise came from or if it was a figment of her imagination. She shrugged it off and then closed her eyes slowly, resigning to the darkness of the night.

The creaking of the floorboard sounded once more, this time longer and louder than the first. Missy sat up and look around again. She turned on the reading lamp on the table beside her bed and glanced around carefully.

Nothing.

Hesitating, she reached over the lamp and turned it off as the darkness washed over her room in a blink of an eye. Lying awake as she stared in the dark, Missy sat up and reached for her old stuffed bear and clutched it tightly for protection and comfort. She laid back down and looked around. At first the darkness of the room must have deceived her, or maybe her eyes were confused and dazzled by the recent glare of the reading lamp. For a minute or two she could make out nothing at all but dark lumps of furniture, the mass of the chest of drawers by the wall, and the mirror that reflected the silvery glare of the moonlight which kept her room from being plunged into complete darkness.

The floorboard creaks again.

Missy sits up and out of frustration, lets out a groan. She turns to turn on her reading lamp and as soon as the light flickers on, she sees a girl, an exact image of herself standing a few feet away from her, staring at her with no expression on her face.

"What the…" Missy whispers as her mouth drops open.

The doppelganger moves at hyper speed towards Missy; the lights go off and an echo of Missy's screams sound off in the entire house.

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Thumping and shuffling footfalls approach as Missy's parents open the door to see Missy lying in bed with her teddy bear in her arms. Her mother turns on the light and approaches her daughter.

"Missy, are you okay?" she asks as she sits on her bed, "We thought we heard you scream."

"I'm fine." Missy says with a gloomy expression.

"Are you sure?" her father asks.

"Yes."

"Okay." Her mother says as she plants a kiss on her forehead and stands up, "Sweet dreams, honey."

"Thanks, mother." Missy says in an eerie voice.

"Love you sweetheart." Her mother says, waiting for a response from her daughter. Missy stares at her parents with a blank expression, which erases the smile off her mother's face. She slowly backs out of the room as she shuts off the light and closes the door.

Missy jumps out of the bed and walks over to the mirror in the darkness. She examines her face and as the moonlight hits the mirror, a monstrous face with red pupils, no nose and sharp fangs looks back at her. With a wave of her hand, her face turns to normal as she smiles coldly.

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A full moon hovered behind the Halliwell Manor, casting upon the Victorian building a bright light that made it stand out from the rest of the other houses on the block. The moon was darker than usual, its hue displayed hints of crimson red but it was not noticeable unless you stared at it for longer than a few seconds.

Within the Manor, Piper laid in bed, drenched in sweat while she tossed and turned in her sleep as the words echoed in the background as she breathed heavily.

" _I think he would've attacked by now if we hadn't."_ Phoebe's voice can be heard in the darkness.

"No…" Piper whispered as her chest began to rise and fall rapidly.

" _I mean I can't control how far in the future my premonitions take place. I saw the attack, we kicked butt, what more do you want?"_ Phoebe's voice can be heard once more as Piper groans in her sleep.

An instant flash reveals what Piper saw behind her closed eyelids - the dream that had troubled her for the past decade.

She was back in the same place. Standing in the foyer with Prue to her left, Dr. Griffiths to her right and Phoebe standing across from her. She stared at her sisters with a foreboding look but even though her mind knew what was about to happen, her body could not do anything to act upon her thoughts.

" _Okay, Phoebe, maybe you should check the Book of Shadows, see if you can find anything else on this demonic hit man, okay?"_ Prue suggests.

"Excuse me, demonic?" Dr. Griffiths interrupts as his eyes widen in surprise.

Piper looks at Dr. Griffiths and then back at Phoebe. She tried to force herself not to say what came next but she had no control over herself in this instant.

" _And how to vanquish him, that would be a good thing to know, and do not get side tracked with the Cole potion thingy because the only ones we are concerned about saving right now is ourselves_." Piper spits out in one breath as she watches Phoebe turn around and run up the stairs.

" _Oh, okay, what Cole potion?"_ Prue asks as she faces Piper.

Piper bites her tongue as hard as she could, her eyes examining her sister's face, her thoughts pleading for Prue to stop talking and run upstairs to the attic where they will feel safe next to the Book.

"Piper?" Prue calls out to Piper. "Piper, are you okay? Piper? Piper!"

Piper gasps tearfully as she wakes up and sees Leo sitting by her side in pitch darkness. The light from the moon shone through the window and only a portion of Leo's face can be seen, the remaining part hidden in the darkness that blanketed the room. In his calmest voice, Leo tries to give her the comfort he knew his wife wanted but couldn't have.

"Are you okay?"

Piper opens her mouth to answer but she breaks down and covers her face with her hands as she sobs gently. Leo leans closer to Piper and wraps his arms around her, leading Piper to grab onto his shirt and sob uncontrollably.

"It's okay." Leo says as he gently strokes her hair, "It's alright. I'm here."

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

 _I am the son,_

 _I am the heir._

 _I am human and I need to be loved._

 _Just like everybody else does…_

 _See I've already waited too long_

 _And all my hope is gone._

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STARRING

Alyssa Milano

Rose McGowan

AND Holly Marie Combs as "Piper"

Brian Krause

Created by: Constance M. Burge

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The usual peaceful and serene scenes of San Francisco landmarks and attractions were anything but peaceful and serene. Dark clouds loomed over the waters of the bay, chaos and panic ran rampant in the streets. There were houses on the block that were half sunken deep into the ground, other buildings that were split in half. Street lights and cable poles were either broken in half or hung loose over the roads. The streets were littered with debris and for every sinkhole housed at least one car or a mailbox.

Among the chaotic scene, the Halliwell Manor still stood tall without a scratch. The lawn still looked manicured, the rose garden bloomed despite the dark clouds that hid the rays of sunlight.

Within the manor, Paige sat by the dining room table drinking her cup of coffee. A coffee jug and a box of cream and a glass jar of sugar was within reaching distance from her as she scooped a few teaspoons of sugar into her coffee and stirred it once more. She took a sip and smiled happily.

"Paige?!" Phoebe's voice can be heard yelling in the distance.

"Dining room!" Paige responded.

Phoebe walked into the dining room with Coop and their three daughters.

"Hey Auntie Paige!" Paris greets with excitement.

"Hello girls." Paige responded with a smile.

"Are the twins here yet?" Tricia asked.

"No, they're on their way with their father. They should be here soon."

"Cool." Paisley shouted with enthusiasm.

"Daddy, is it okay for us to go upstairs to hang out with Mellie? At least until it's time to go to school?" Tricia asked politely.

"Sure, sweetheart." Coop answered gently.

Tricia turned around and bolted up the stairs with Paisley and Paris following closely behind her. Phoebe watched them leave with a warm smile and walked to the coffee jug to pour herself a cup.

"You're still taking them to school?" Paige asked.

"Yeah. Why not?" Phoebe asked in confusion.

"In case you haven't noticed, the whole world is falling apart. You see the craziness that is going on in the news right now? This is the time to shield our children until we fix it." Paige says.

"And keeping them away from the world is going to do what exactly?" Phoebe began, "Doing that isn't going to do anything but deprive them of the education and the normal day to day things that a kid needs."

"Phoebe, the children do not deal with normal day to day activities. Their safety is more important and with what is going on right now, I think school is going to be the least of our worries."

"And what are we going to do about what's going on out there?" Phoebe asked as she poured cream into her coffee and grabbed a Splenda as she shook it vigorously, "Abaddon has jumpstarted the apocalypse and God only knows what's coming next. Not to mention these sigils that he is about to break but we don't know what they are, where they are or how to stop them. So tell me again, Paige. How are we supposed to do anything right now?"

"I mean; Paige is right…" Coop interjected at his own risk.

"Babe, you are married to me, remember?" Phoebe said through gritted teeth, "You're supposed to be on my side."

"And I will always be on your side," Coop says, "But not when you're wrong or not making any sense."

"Hmmm." Phoebe says as she pours the Splenda into her coffee, stirs it and sits down across from Paige by the dining table, "Well do tell."

"While I think that keeping the kids away from school is a bad idea, I believe that you guys cannot just sit here and do nothing while the world continues to fall apart." Coop says.

"It would be nice if we had a heads up because it seems like he's always one step ahead." Phoebe sighs.

"It's because he has Sebastian by his side." Paige says, "It ain't fair."

"You guys have a clairvoyant on your side too." A voice can be heard in the distance, "You just need to utilize her more."

Phoebe, Paige and Coop turn around to see Leo walk down the stairs with a smile on his face.

"Leo!" Phoebe and Paige said gleefully. Phoebe walked up to Leo and gave him a hug.

"When did you get back?" Paige asks as she sipped her coffee.

"Last night." Leo answered, "I kind of figured all of the things that were going on was magic related and when Melinda called me, I knew I had to come home."

"How's Piper holding up?" Coop asks.

"To be honest, I don't know." Leo answered as he let out a deep sigh, "She doesn't seem to want to talk to me and when I got in last night, she was having the nightmare again."

"The one about Prue?" Phoebe asks.

"The one and the same." Leo answers.

"She hasn't had that dream for months. I wonder why she's having them now." Paige asks.

"She's under a lot of stress." Phoebe explains, "Maybe the thought of seeing Prue when we went to the past a few days ago triggered it again? And it doesn't help that she feels responsible for all that is going on right now."

"Why does she feel responsible for all of this?" Coop asks.

"Because of Wyatt." Paige says quietly.

"But that's not her fault." Coop says trying to make sense of it all.

"Technically it's not. But as a mother, she feels like it is." Phoebe says in a sullen tone.

Chris runs in from the kitchen with an apple juice in his hand and towards the door.

"Hey son." Leo says with a smile.

"Hey dad." Chris says as without stopping, "Bye dad!"

"Whoa, hold up." Leo says as he jumps in front of Chris, "You're not happy to see your old man?"

"Good to see you, Dad." Chris says as he takes a sip of his juice, "Now I have to go. Dom's outside waiting."

"Is Wyatt coming with?" Leo asks.

"I don't know." Chris retorts coldly, "And I don't care if he does."

"Wait a minute…" Leo begins to say but Chris cuts him off.

"I'm going to be late, dad. I'll talk to you later." Chris says as he runs out, "Bye Aunt Phoebe, Bye Aunt Paige and Uncle Coop!"

"What was that about?" Leo asks, "What the hell happened here? Everything is upside down."

"Mellie didn't tell you?" Phoebe asks.

"He's probably still angry." Paige assumes.

"No, he's sad. More like in pain than angry." Phoebe corrects Paige.

"Why is he in pain?" Leo asks.

Phoebe opens her mouth to answer but doesn't get the chance. Henry along with the children run into the house.

"Hey honey." Henry marches in and kisses Paige, "Are the kids ready to go?!"

"Almost."

"Welcome back, Leo." Henry says as he shakes Leo's hand and pulls him into a hug, "You've come to join the fray, haven't you?"

"Apparently so." Leo answers, "I have a lot of catching up to do."

"Girls, go and tell your cousins it's time to go to school." Paige instructs the twins. Gabby and Penny run up the stairs with Junior following them.

"So what do we do?" Paige asks.

"This whole family is a mess right now." Phoebe says.

"I think it's best to fix the disasters among ourselves before we decide to take on the disasters happening all over the world." Leo says.

"Leo's right." Phoebe concurs, "We need to present a united front and the Power of Three works best when we have no issues amongst ourselves so here's the plan. Paige, go with Henry and take the kids to school; I will try and convince Piper to step out of the house to do something, either go to Halliwell's or to P3. Anything to get her out of that room and get this Prue and Wyatt mess out of her mind."

"Right." Paige says as she turns around and walks towards the bannister with Henry.

"What should I do?" Leo asks Phoebe.

"Try to get through to your son."

"But Chris just…"

"No." Phoebe whispers ominously as she shakes her head, "I'm talking about Wyatt. I feel like you might be the only one who can."

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Gabby and Penny arrive at the door of Mellie's bedroom. As Gabby raises her hand to knock on the thick wooden door, the door magically swings open with Paris, Paisley, Tricia and Melinda sitting on the bed, watching their cousins with a smile.

"How did you know we were out here?" Junior asks.

"Come on, you're really going to ask that kind of question in this house?" Tricia laughs.

"Especially in this family?" Paris adds.

"Right." Penny sighs as she walks in with her brother and sister and closes the door behind them.

"So what's going on?" Gabby asks as she hops on the bed. Penny sits on a large chest on the opposite side of the room and Junior sits on the chair by the computer desk.

"What's going on?" Tricia asks, "Are you kidding me? Have you not been paying attention?"

"I know what's going on." Gabby answers, "I'm just asking about what you guys are talking about."

"Did any of you guys get grounded or get in trouble after everything that happened last weekend?" Tricia asks.

"No, my mom is in her own head space right now." Mellie answered, "I think knowing Wyatt started the apocalypse has her on a different level right now."

"We didn't get in trouble, either." Gabby adds, "My mom said we had bigger things to worry about than to worry about grounding us."

"Same here." Tricia adds.

"Well, we should be counting our lucky stars because I wouldn't be surprised if our mothers locked us in the basement and threw away the key." Mellie says.

"Understandable but we need to figure out where to go from here." Penny says.

"What do you mean?" Paris asks.

"The world has gone to crap and…"

"Language…" Mellie interrupts Tricia.

"As I was saying…" Penny says as she continues, "the world is falling apart, no thanks to us…"

"You mean no thanks to Wyatt." Tricia says.

"See, that part isn't necessary." Mellie says as she tucks her hair behind her ears.

"But isn't it the truth?" Tricia asks.

"You know what, Tricia? We all signed up for this." Gabby says, "No one forced us to help Wyatt and Chris but guess what? We did it and now we are suffering the consequences. Besides, I seem to remember you and Mellie forcing Chris and Wyatt's hand to join them so pointing the fingers at Wyatt when it is all our fault."

Tricia looks down and clears her throat in shame. No one expected the quiet Gabrielle to sound off like she just did but she said what Tricia needed to hear. A prideful smile grew on her twin sister's face as she gave her a nod of appreciation.

"So where do we go from here?" Junior asks, trying to bring the topic back on track, "What do we do now?"

"Honestly, there isn't much we can do." Mellie says, "All this is in the hands of our parents and Billie and Laura."

"They can't do this by themselves…" Paisley cuts in with her baby sounding voice, "They're going to need help."

"Help from who? Us?" Paris says with a sarcastic laugh.

"Have you not been paying attention, Pais?" Tricia says as she tucks her hair behind her ears, "Mom and our aunties will never let us do anything magical…"

"And that's the reason why we're in this situation." Penny adds.

"Exactly." Paisley cosigns, "We are going to need help to be trained…"

"Chris and Wyatt tried to train us before, remember? And it didn't even do much." Tricia says, "Hell, we almost got Wyatt killed that day."

"Language!" Mellie blurts out.

"Really?" Tricia scoffs at Mellie who shoots her a scolding glance.

"Every mission that we do will have risks but that should not keep us from doing the right thing." Paisley says passionately, "We broke the world. The very least we can do is help make it right and fix it."

"We need to talk to our parents and have them train us. Who better to train us than the Charmed Ones?" Paisley says.

"I feel you, Paisley, I really do but I don't think that's going to work." Mellie says softly, "If our mothers didn't want to train Wyatt and Chris, who are the oldest of all of us, what makes you think they'll try to train us?"

"The circumstances are different now." Junior chimes in.

"I doubt that they will see it that way." Penny says.

"It is the least we can do." Paisley says.

"And what if they say no?" Tricia asks.

"We don't take no for an answer." Paisley says as she folds her arms.

"You are so naïve, it's kind of adorable." Tricia laughs as she turns her attention to Mellie.

"Actually, it's hard to say no to a group of nine children who all want the same thing." Penny says as she stands up, "If we all present a united front against our mothers, and we can somehow persuade Uncle Leo to see reason, they won't be able to say no."

"That's what I was trying to say…" Paisley whispers as she hangs her head low.

"That might not be a bad idea." Mellie says as she runs her fingers through her hair, "I think I can persuade my dad to help us. We just have to get Wyatt and Chris on board."

"Why wouldn't they be?" Gabby asks.

"Wyatt and Chris are not talking to each other." Mellie answers, "Wyatt moved out of their bedroom and moved into the basement so that's another dilemma we are going to have to fix…if we want to be on a united front."

A knock is heard on the door as Paige opens the door and smiles, "Are you guys ready? It's time to go."

The Charmed children exchange anxious glances amongst each other as they stand up and march out of the room one by one.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

With the Golden Gate bridge in the distance, the once beautifully decorated gazebo laid in ruins. The pillars were split in half, the grass that were once green were brown and were covered in weeds and the flowers that were littered over the bushes were withering with the touch of the sun's rays.

Chris stood in the center of it all, looking around with a sullen look. The view of the city and the picture of the garden mirrored the emotions he felt inside. This was his spot. His and Bianca's. He thought he could find some solace by returning to the last place that carried a happy memory but it was apparent that it was a cruel mistake. As a single tear fell from his deep blue eyes, he wiped it from his cheek as the familiar blue and white orbs engulfed him and disappeared from sight.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

TAP

TAP

TAP

Leo knocks gently on the door waiting to hear Wyatt's response but doesn't hear anything. Leo taps on the door once more, a little louder this time and still does not get any response.

"Wyatt? It's me. Dad." Leo says in a calm tone, "Can I come down?"

No answer.

Releasing a slightly exasperated sigh, Leo turns the nob and announces, "I'm coming down!"

Ever so cautious, Leo opens the door as his mind begins to drum up a thousand thoughts of how he was to talk to his son. He couldn't imagine why his son would choose to move into the darkest part of the house where nothing good ever happens. His thoughts began to feed into his fear, no doubt the same fear Piper also had but he also knew in order to reach his son, he needed to let his strongest desire overcome his greatest fear.

As soon as Leo reached the base of the stairs leading into the basement, his eyes widened in surprise. The basement was transformed into a comfortable studio apartment, if you will. The cemented floor was covered in plush red carpet, complimenting the navy blue painted walls. There was a sectional couch and a glass table that sat in the middle of the floor, with a centerpiece on top of it. His 32-inch flat screen television hung on the wall with the surround sound system bolted on both sides. A twin sized bed aligned with the wall in the corner with Wyatt laying on the bed, arms folded and legs crossed.

"Wow." Leo says, "How did you do all of this? Magic?"

Wyatt gives him a look and rolls his eyes as he whispers, "No. I built it myself."

As Leo's face beamed up with pride, he chokes up when he says with a smile, "Like father, like son with those gifted hands."

"Sure…" Wyatt responds unenthused, "Why are you here, dad? There's a reason why I'm down here, far away from everyone else."

"I heard what happened, son." Leo says as he walks over the couch and sits down, "I just want to talk to you."

"There's nothing to talk about."

"There's a lot to talk about, Wyatt." Leo says, "I'm not here to judge you or make you feel any kind of way. I just want to listen and understand you."

Wyatt takes a deep breath and sighs.

"Is there anything you want to talk about?" Leo asks.

Wyatt picks up his iPad and begins to scroll and type, not paying his father any mind.

"Wyatt, that's rude. I need you to give me your undivided attention and talk to me."

"Like I told you dad, I have nothing to talk about."

"How are you doing?" Leo says, a hint of desperation cracking in his voice as he tries to pierce the invisible shield his son has raised around his feelings and heart.

"I'm fine, dad." Wyatt says as he begins to play a video game on his iPad, which chimes and rings as he navigates through it.

"You can't be fine if you're living down here." Leo says, "What is this about? Is it about the Abaddon thing or the Bianca thing?"

Wyatt pauses for a second and the room stays silent in that moment. Leo examines Wyatt's face as he sees his son's lip twitch, his jaw clench as he exhales slowly.

"No."

"Wyatt, talk to me." Leo pleads, "I might be able to help."

"You want to help?" Wyatt asks as he sits up and places his iPad on the bed by his side.

"Yeah." Leo says happily as he scooches closer to his son.

"I need you to do me a favor." Wyatt says.

"Anything, son…." Leo says, not even bothering to hide his desperation at this point.

"I need you to get me the spell mom and her sisters used years ago."

"What spell?" Leo asks in confusion.

"The relinquishment spell." Wyatt answers as he looks at Leo dead in the eyes, "I want to strip my powers for good."

Leo's eyes widen in shock as he opens his mouth but no words come out.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"Piper, honey?" Phoebe calls as she pokes her head through the slightly opened threshold leading into Piper's bedroom.

"Hey." Piper says softly.

"How are you doing?" Phoebe asks as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

"I don't know." Piper says as she starred out of the window but her mind was clearly elsewhere.

Phoebe walks to the window and sits on the window sill across from Piper, "Talk to me."

"I don't know what to say." Piper says as her voice begins to crack.

"Just tell me what's on your mind." Phoebe says in a gently comforting voice, "I'm here."

"I can't sleep." Piper begins, "Whenever I close my eyes, my dreams take me to that fateful day we lost Prue. I don't know why it's been more frequent lately and it has been more prevalent in the past few days than ever. And when I choose to stay up, the news and the screams outside my window don't do anything to help because they weigh in on my guilt. I'm trapped in a world of horrors no matter what I do."

"Guilt for what, sweetie?" Phoebe asks as she sits next to Piper and strokes her hair.

"That all of this happened because of my son." Piper says as she breaks down in tears, "What we tried to prevent 13 years ago, what Chris came back from the future for, was all for nothing."

"No, that's not true." Phoebe says calmly.

"Isn't it?" Piper snaps, "Laylah herself said that it takes a great evil to break a sigil and if Wyatt broke the first sigil that will bring about the Dark War and end the world, what does it say about him, huh? What does it say about us as parents? We're failures, Phoebe."

"No." Phoebe says sternly, "I don't believe that. This doesn't mean anything. It's just another obstacle we have to get through and we always do. You have three children, and all three of them are pure and good and one of them messed up bad. How many times have we messed up and we always fixed our messes?"

"It's not the same, Phoebe…"

"I think you're right." Phoebe says, "It's not the same. We didn't have mom or Grams to help us in the beginning constantly. Our children have us here now. We can make the difference. We can stop Abaddon before he goes too far."

"How can we?" Piper asks.

"We're the Charmed Ones." Phoebe says through a tearful smile, "We have dealt with worse and we have persevered, we will get through this too. The way to do that is not shut Wyatt out."

"I'm not shutting him out." Piper says, "I just don't know how to face him because I feel like I failed him."

"And he feels like he disappointed you." Phoebe counters.

"He said that to you?" Piper asks as she chokes up on her tears.

"He doesn't have to. I can see it in his eyes." Phoebe answers.

"My goodness…" Piper whispers.

"This is what Abaddon wants." Phoebe says, "He wanted to break us while he rips the world apart so there will be no one to stand in his way. And right now, he's winning."

"You're right." Piper says as she wipes her tears from her face, "You always know the right things to say."

"I got it from you." Phoebe says with a smile, "I'm just returning the favor."

Piper stands up and runs her fingers through her long brown hair as she turns to face Phoebe.

"So you need to get out of the house. You've been locked in here for the past week. You need some fresh air. Go to the club or restaurant or something…"

"I can't." Piper whispers.

"Why not?" Phoebe asks.

"The St. Johns want me to sell the club and I don't want to. I don't think I can let that go. It has so much history. It's part of us."

"Piper…" Phoebe whispers but Piper cuts her off.

"I can't do it, Pheebs. I just can't."

"I understand." Phoebe says calmly.

"What do we do?"

"Before we do anything, _you_ need to fix _you_." Phoebe suggests, "We need to give you peace of mind because it's clear you don't have it."

"Any idea of how to do that?" Piper asks.

"Maybe…" Phoebe squints and she begins to ponder with a smile.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Tricia, Penny, Gabby, Paris, Paisley, Mellie and Henry Junior arrive at school via Henry's SUV. They hop out of the vehicle one by one until the last Halliwell steps out.

"We'll see you guys after school." Paige shouts with a smile, "Have a great day!"

"We will, mom!" Penny shouts back as she waves and turns around to join her cousins, who were already walking away.

"So what's the plan now?" Paris asks.

"We go to school and then go home and figure it out." Mellie says.

"You can't be serious." Tricia says as she stops walking and the rest of her cousins stop with her, "Are you serious?"

"Look, we're going to be busy all day in school, plus I have a student council later today so I won't have the time." Mellie explains.

"Can you at least talk to Chris so he can join us?" Gabby asks, "You know we can't do this without him."

"I don't know…" she says as she stares in the distance.

"Text him right now and let him know." Penny suggests.

"No." Mellie says, "This is something we need to talk to him in person."

"Well then…" Penny says as she waves her hand and a cell phone orbs into her palm.

"Is that my cell phone?" Mellie asks as her eyes widen.

"Yup…" Penny says as she begins to type a text message.

"How did you even unlock my phone?"

"We have the power to glamour. I just had to change my fingerprint to yours to unlock it." Penny says with a smile as she continues to text.

"That's creepy."

"That's impressive." Paisley says as she looks on as Penny types.

"And….send!" Penny says as she hands the phone back to Mellie and the phone swooshes.

"What did you say?" Junior asks.

"I just told him that Mellie needs to talk to him about something important at lunch. Since you guys have lunch every day, it's the perfect time." Penny says.

The school bell rings as majority of the student body runs into the school.

"Great, now I'm late." Mellie sighs as she begins to run.

"Talk to Chris!" Penny screams as Mellie waves back without looking.

"If she gets Chris on our side, how are we going to get Wyatt if he's not talking to Chris?" Junior asks.

"One brother at a time. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it." Tricia says as she grabs Paisley's hand, "Come on, I got to walk you to your school."

"It's right next door, Tricia. I can go by myself." Paisley pleads.

"That's cute." Tricia says as she walks alongside her sister, "Let's go."

Groaning out loud, Paisley follows her sisters and Junior as they head to the elementary school next door.

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

Standing in the hallway, Chris unloads his books into his locker as Dom walks up to him.

"Hey Chris."

"What's up?" Chris says in his usual soft voice.

"I thought you wanted me to pick you up from your house. What happened?" Dom asks.

"I just needed to go for a walk to clear my mind."

"Where's Wyatt?"

"I don't know…"

"Are y'all okay?" Dom whispers.

"Perfectly fine." Chris says as he begins to close his locker but his eyes find Bianca standing close by, staring at him.

"Hey, Chris…" Bianca says softly as she begins to walk closer to him, "Can we talk?"

"I got to go." Chris says as he slams his locker shut and speedily walks away. Dom watches Chris walking away and then looks at Bianca.

"I knew you had something to do with this whole mess." Dom exclaims, "I knew it."

"Dom, I need your help…" Bianca says as she walks to Dom and Dom holds his hand to stop her in her place.

"First and foremost, it's Dominic to you." Dom says, "You don't know me well enough to call me by any other name besides Dom. Secondly, you never liked me and I never liked you. What makes you think I would do anything to help you?"

"Because Wyatt is your best friend." Bianca answers, "And I need to help fix this mess before it's too late. The fate of the world is at stake."

"Here you go being all dramatic again." Dom says as he begins to walk away, "I don't have time for this."

"I'm serious. Please." Bianca says, "Do this for them. Not for me."

Dom staring at Bianca and seeing the tears forming in her light brown eyes weakened his hardened stance.

"You're serious, aren't you?" Dom finally gives in, to which Bianca nods.

"Fine." Dom sighs, "What do you need me to do?"

 _ **-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-**_

"I'm sorry, you want me to do what?!" Piper blurts as she tucks her hair behind her ears, trying to make sure she heard Phoebe's words as she looks through the Book of Shadows.

"Look, vision quests have helped us in the past before. It can again." Phoebe says as she flips through the Book, "Now I know I wrote the ingredients for the potion in here before."

"Okay but don't forget that every time one of us was in a vision quest, the world was falling apart and we almost got killed in the process." Piper says.

"Well, the world is already falling apart now and this is not something that just happened. You have been plagued by Prue's death since she died and you haven't fully moved on, Piper. This is the only way."

"I'm not doing a vision quest, Phoebe. This is ridiculous."

"Why not?"

"I just don't, Phoebe!" Piper bellows out as she crosses her arms out of frustration.

"What do you suggest, Piper because I can't stand to see you torture yourself anymore. Prue's death hit us all hard but you never truly let it go." Phoebe deduces.

"That's not true."

"It isn't?" Phoebe says as she stops flipping through the book and stares at Piper, "Then what is? Huh?"

Piper scoffs and rolls her eyes as she walks to the other side of the attic.

"That's the reason why you can't sell the club, this is the reason why you claim you saw Prue a few years ago and we lost an innocent because of it. This is the reason why we put a stop to training our children in Wicca and help them develop their powers. This is affecting all aspects of your life, Piper. Your personal, professional and even wiccan. You need to do this, Piper."

"Fine." Piper concedes as she walks closer to her sister, "How are you sure that this will work?"

"I don't. But it's better than you having recurring nightmares about something that is beyond your control." Phoebe says as she begins to look through the Book again, "Now where is this damn ritual?"

"Maybe you not being able to find the spell in the Book is a sign." Piper smiles.

"No, you're not going to get out of it, Pip…" Phoebe says as she stops herself mid-sentence as she stares off into the distance, "Wait a minute…"

"What is it?" Piper asks.

"Maybe I don't need the vision quest potion."

"Ha!" Piper exclaims, "See? I'm glad you came to your senses."

"No, no." Phoebe says as she turns to Piper, "What if I modify the 'Past Life Spell' a bit to fit your predicament?"

"But it's not my past life that's haunting me. It's my nightmares." Piper says.

"Right, your nightmares but it stems from an event from your past. All I got to do is word it so you can visit your past so that you can deal with it."

Piper takes a deep breath and sighs heavily. She saw the look of determination in Phoebe's eyes and she knew that there was no way Phoebe was going to relent unless she caved.

"So what do we do?" Piper asks.

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"The relinquishment spell?" Leo asks in confusion, "Whatever you are feeling, that's no reason to give up your powers. Give up your gift."

"Gift?" Wyatt says as he scoots closer to his father, "My powers aren't a gift. It makes me a target or a threat. Everyone wants me for their own personal gain because I'm too powerful or they want to kill me because I'm a threat. The entire world would be better off without me possessing any time of powers."

"That is not true, Wyatt." Leo says as his eyes begin to well up in tears, "You are destined for many great things that go beyond all of us. You giving up is like giving up on the world and giving up what you were meant to be."

"You know what's funny, dad?" Wyatt asks, "We tend to preach about the free will that has been afforded to us by the greater good but how do we have free will if our fate or destiny or whatever has been already determined by the powers that be? What kind of life is that?"

"Wy…"

"Everywhere I go, I'm reminded of being the wielder of Excalibur, of being the Twice Blessed child, the future and leader of the next generation of Halliwell witches. And I might have been okay with it in the future but in the present? In the now?! I can't live my life without demons trying to take advantage of me, of my own brother conspiring against me." Wyatt says in a single breath, venting all of that which was buried within him. Leo just nodded his head as he looked upon his son's face, trying to empathize with his plight.

"Your brother?"

"Bianca used me to get to Chris, and Chris knew how I felt about her and still went after her anyway."

"Do you know this for a fact or you're just making assumptions based on what you think you know?" Leo asks.

Wyatt, taken aback stands up and takes a few steps away from Leo.

"Why don't you come out and say what you want to say, dad." Wyatt says as his voice cracked, "You side with Chris and you think I'm crazy."

"Wyatt, that's not what I'm saying." Leo tries to explain, "I just feel like you need to hear your brother out because from what I understand, you haven't said a word to each other since this happened."

"Are you going to get the spell for me or not?" Wyatt says softly with a stern but painful look in his eyes.

"Your mother and her sisters burned the spell years ago. It's lost." Leo says quietly.

"Then you're no good to me."

"Wyatt…" Leo says with a shock in his tone.

"I think we're done here." Wyatt says dismissively, "I have nothing else to say."

Wyatt collapses on his bed and grabs his iPad and resumes playing the game. Leo stands up and watches sadly, wondering what else he can possibly say but knows in his heart there is nothing he can do at this moment. Leo walks towards the stairs of the basement and turns his head to see his son one more time before he walks up the stairs and exits into the kitchen.

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Melinda sat in the back of the classroom, staring outside the window to the left of her. So many thoughts flooded her mind in that moment, from the rift between her brothers to the reason why the entire city laid in chaos. The burden to help end this weighed heavily on her shoulders and she was beginning to feel overwhelmed by it all.

"Melinda?"

"Melinda?"

No response. Every other voice besides her own was white noise at this point. She was so wrapped up in her own world that she could not hear her teacher calling out to her. Out of nowhere, the sound of her name pierced the mental bubble she was currently dwelling in, bringing her focus but into class.

"MELINDA HALLIWELL!"

"Huh?" Mellie turned her head to the laughter of her fellow classmates.

"The principal wants to have a word with you." The teacher says, "Go to her office."

"But I didn't do anything." Mellie says but her teacher smiles, "A trip to the principal's office doesn't always mean something negative, Mellie."

"Ugh, fine." Mellie sighs as she stands and walks out of the classroom.

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The journey to the principal's office felt longer than it usually did. The corridors were empty and the hallway felt narrower than usual. An grim feeling washed over Mellie as she walked; the feeling of being watched increased with every step she took. She kept pausing, stopping and turning back to see who was behind her. Her sense of sight told her there was no one behind her but her intuition told her otherwise.

With Principal Dawson's office within sight, her nerves began to ease a bit. Her stride grew shorter and her pace slower. As she walked closer, she averted her eyes and immediately bumped into another person, causing her to fall on her back.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed.

"My apologies." A calm voice sounded as Mellie sat up to see who stood before her. Missy Taylor stood tall over her with her arm extended with an effort to help her up. Mellie grabbed her arm and was pulled up, as she dusted herself off and tried to fix her hair.

"Thank you for that." Mellie says, "I'm sorry for bumping to you. I wasn't paying attention."

"It's okay." Missy responded in a monotone voice. Missy looked at Mellie and examined her with an eerie look as she responds, "It happens."

"I guess." Mellie says, "So I have to be heading to the Principal's office so I got to go. Catch you at the student council meeting?"

"Yeah, of course." Missy replies, "But there's some things I need to bring to your attention that I don't want to say in front of the others. Now is a good time to talk about it?"

"I mean…" Mellie begins, "I have to go to see Dawson…"

"Give me just a minute of your time." Missy says calmly.

Mellie looks back towards Principal Dawson's office door and then back at Missy, "Fine, I guess I can spare a minute."

"Good." Missy says as a smile grows on her face as she walks away opposite of Mellie. Mellie sighs and begins to follow her.

"So what's going on?" Mellie says as she walked alongside Missy. Lowering down her guard, she didn't realize Missy was standing behind her. Mellie turns around to see a sinister look in Missy's gaze.

"Missy, are you okay?" Mellie asks.

Missy extends her arm and Mellie telekinetically flies through the door leading into the girl's restroom and slides across the bathroom tiles. Groaning as she sat up, she sees another girl walk up next to Missy as they both stand over her.

"What do you think?" Missy asks.

"She'll do." The girl answers with a smile. Her skin begins to bubble and melt off her body as she begins to transform into an exact image of Mellie.

"What the?" Mellie gasps as her doppelganger shoots a spark at Mellie, knocking her unconscious.

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Leo walks into the attic of the Halliwell Manor and sees Piper and Phoebe standing over the Book of Shadows.

"Hey, guys." Leo greets, "What's going on?"

"Phoebe is tweaking a spell to help me with my current dilemma." Piper answers.

"What spell?"

"Modifying the Past Life spell so I can go back to where it all began and get better." Piper answers.

"Piper." Leo begins to say but Piper stops him.

"I know what you're going to say and I understand but I need to do this." Piper says, "Phoebe was right. Before we can go and fix whatever is out there, we need to fix what's in here first."

Leo looks down at his wife and plants a kiss on her forehead as he pulls her into a hug.

"How did it go with Wyatt?" Phoebe asks.

"I might need reinforcements." Leo says.

"Ok." Phoebe says as she walks over to Piper and Leo, "One Halliwell at a time."

Phoebe hands a sheet of paper to Piper as she gestures them to walk to the couch to sit down.

"So now what?" Piper asks.

"Just chant the spell and you should be taken back to the cause of this dream. You will be able to wake up at any time if you feel like you need to come back." Phoebe explains.

"Do you know where it's going to take me?" Piper asks.

"No, honey." Phoebe says in a comforting tone as she brushes Piper's hair with her hand, "That's what you have to figure out."

Piper takes a deep breath and sighs, "Well here goes nothing."

Piper examines the spell and begins to chant:

" _Into the winds, send the rhyme  
Lift the bonds of space and time.  
In my quest to find some peace  
Help me set my mind at ease.  
Send me back to whence it begun  
To abate my strife, reduce to none."_

Piper's eyes grow heavy as she immediately loses consciousness and falls back. Leo guides her head and places it gently against the back of the couch as they watch her sleep peacefully.

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Releasing a loud gasp, Piper sits up and looks around, realizing she was on the couch of her living room. She stands up and walks gently into the foyer. She comes across the mirror and stares at herself, realizing she looks younger than usual.

" _When the hell am I?"_ Piper thinks to herself. Footsteps can be heard approaching the front door as a familiar voice can be heard on the other side. The door swings open and in walks Prue Halliwell, a cell phone attached to her ear and her bag carrying her camera equipment. She kicks the door shut as she walks into the Manor.

"I promise, Gil, I will be there. I have the first shoot at 11 and I'm pretty sure it will end before 1 so I'll be able to take the 3:30 shoot as well."

Piper's eyes widen as she tries to talk but she has no control of her actions. Her thoughts were independent from the past Piper's but past Piper has the control of everything else.

" _Prue?"_ Piper's thoughts wondered as she walked closer to Prue.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow to reaffirm." Prue says as she hangs up her cell phone.

"So it is looking like tomorrow is going to another busy day for me." Prue says as she flips her hair, "So I'm sorry, Piper but I don't think I can have lunch with you tomorrow."

"It's 2 in the morning, Prue." Piper says as she looks at the grandfather's clock, "Another late day, huh?"

"It's hectic but I like being busy." Prue says, "I miss being this busy."

"I see but I guess the lunch thing can wait. I don't mind." Piper says, "You tell that to Phoebe. She's going to be disappointed."

"Uh, no." Prue says with a smile, "She's still shaken up about Cole after the whole banshee thing, we haven't really been in the same space alone for longer than 5 minutes."

"She'll come around." Piper says.

"Piper?!" Phoebe's voice can be heard shouting as rapid footsteps can be heard coming down the stairs. Phoebe runs up and join her sisters with her blonde hair.

"What's going on, Phoebe?" Piper asks.

"I just had a premonition." Phoebe says.

"What did you see?" Prue asks.

"A wind demon attacking an innocent in the parking lot somewhere." Phoebe says.

" _Oh, my God."_ Piper's thoughts begin to race, _"This is the day we got attacked by Shax. This is the day Prue dies."_

"That's it?" Piper asks, "We can use more information than that."

"I think he's a doctor because he was wearing scrubs but that's all I got." Phoebe explains, "Oh, and that he was attacked as the sun was rising."

"That's uh…" Prue begins to say as she checks her watch, "in 2 hours. Let's go."

"But we don't know anything about the demon." Piper says.

"I know, Piper but let's save the innocent first and then find out who the demon is later, okay? Okay." Prue says as she drops her bags and bolts out the door. Phoebe grabs her jacket and follows Prue out the door and with Piper being the last one, she turns around and looks around the Manor one last time.

"Piper, come on!" Prue's voice can be heard calling out to her.

"I'm coming." Piper screams as she grabs her jacket and closes the door behind her.

TO BE CONTINUED

Guest Starring:

William Franklin Miller as Chris

Kristopher Simmons as Wyatt

Zackary Arthur as Junior

Alexandra Lenarchyk as Tricia

Piper Rock Elle as Paris

Natalie Amora as Paisley

Kristina Pimenova as Mellie

Isabela Moner as Bianca

Lucy Gallina as Gabby

Josie Gallina as Penny

Curtis Harris as Dominic "Dom" Frye

Skylar Dunn as Missy Taylor

SPECIAL GUEST STAR

Shannen Doherty as Prue


End file.
